CVE-2020-24437
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAcrobat Reader DC versions 2020.012.20048 (and earlier), 2020.001.30005 (and earlier) and 2017.011.30175 (and earlier) are affected by a use-after-free vulnerability in the processing of Format event actions that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability exists in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC's processing of Format event actions. When processing these events, memory is freed but the application continues using the dangling pointer, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 20.001.30005<= 17.011.30175<= 20.012.20048<= 20.001.30005<= 17.011.30175<= 20.012.20048CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Adobe product and versionOpen Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat). Alternatively, on Windows check Programs and Features or the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A90000000001} for Reader, or similar for Acrobat. On macOS, right-click the application in Applications and select Get Info to see the version.Affected if Version is at or below 20.001.30005 for standard releases, or at or below 20.012.20048 / 17.011.30175 for DC track versions.
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Confirm product type is affectedDetermine whether the installed product is Adobe Acrobat (full), Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat DC, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Each has separate version ranges.Affected if Product is Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat DC, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC with version within the affected ranges.
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Verify Format event action processing is possibleThe vulnerability triggers when processing PDF files that contain Format event actions. This is a feature in PDF forms. Check if the user opens or processes PDF forms or untrusted PDF documents.Affected if User opens or processes PDF files, particularly PDF forms containing Format event actions, with an affected version.
A user is affected if they have Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader (any DC or standard variant) installed at version 20.001.30005 or below, or DC versions at or below 20.012.20048 or 17.011.30175, and they open PDF files containing Format event actions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to a version later than 2020.012.20048, 2020.001.30005, or 2017.011.30175 (depending on the track). Avoid opening untrusted PDF files until the update is applied.
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- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-24437 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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