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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2020-3797

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.006.30518 / 17.011.30166 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2020.006.20034 and earlier, 2017.011.30158 and earlier, 2017.011.30158 and earlier, 2015.006.30510 and earlier, and 2015.006.30510 and earlier have a memory corruption vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution .

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 · moderate confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader allows arbitrary code execution when successfully exploited. The vulnerability affects multiple older versions (2020.006.20034 and earlier, 2017.011.30158 and earlier, 2015.006.30510 and earlier).

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest patched versions beyond the affected releases. Deploy through enterprise patch management or manual update across all affected endpoints.

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
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, < 15.006.30518>= 15.008.20082, < 20.006.20042>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30166
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, < 15.006.30518>= 15.008.20082, < 20.006.20042>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30166

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed
    Check Program Files (or Applications on macOS) for Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader folders, or look for entries in Windows Programs and Features / macOS Applications folder
    Affected if Either Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is present on the system
  2. Find the installed version of Adobe product
    Open the Adobe application, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader), or on Windows check the version in Programs and Features, or use command: 'AcroRd32.exe /ABP' or search registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Version (path varies by version and installation)
    Affected if The displayed version falls within any of the affected ranges provided in the CVE
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Match your installed version number (such as 15.x.xxxx, 17.x.xxxx, or 20.x.xxxx) against: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30518, 15.008.20082 to 20.006.20042, 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30166, or any version 2020.006.20034 and earlier, 2017.011.30158 and earlier, 2015.006.30510 and earlier
    Affected if The installed version is equal to or lower than 2020.006.20034, or 2017.011.30158, or 2015.006.30510, or falls within the specific version ranges listed for the product
  4. Confirm the product is running
    Launch any PDF file or use the product to process a document, as the vulnerability triggers during PDF processing operations
    Affected if The vulnerable version is installed and the product is used to open or process PDF documents

The environment is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed with any version matching 15.006.30060 through 15.006.30518, 15.008.20082 through 20.006.20042, 17.011.30059 through 17.011.30166, or any earlier release of the 2020, 2017, or 2015 product lines.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 15.006.30518 / 17.011.30166 / 20.006.20042 or later
Fixed in 15.006.3051817.011.3016620.006.20042
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest patched versions beyond the affected releases. Deploy through enterprise patch management or manual update across all affected endpoints.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Acrobat/Acrobat Reader 2020.006.20042 or later for the 2020 track; 2017.011.30166 or later for the 2017 track; or 2015.006.30518 or later for the 2015 track. Prefer the most recent available version.

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader application.
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader).
  3. 3. Allow the application to check for available updates.
  4. 4. If updates are found, download and install the latest version.
  5. 5. Alternatively, manually download the latest version from the official Adobe website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (for Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (for Acrobat).
  6. 6. After installation, restart the application.
  7. 7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed releases: 2020.006.20042, 2017.011.30166, or 2015.006.30518.
Caveat Adobe updates typically do not introduce breaking changes for end users; however, enterprise deployments should test in a non-production environment first.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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Scan for this in your stack

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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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-3797 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data