CVE-2020-9615
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 · uneditedAdobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2020.006.20042 and earlier, 2017.011.30166 and earlier, 2017.011.30166 and earlier, and 2015.006.30518 and earlier have a race condition vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to security feature bypass.
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 confidenceA race condition vulnerability exists in Adobe Acrobat and Reader that can be exploited to bypass security features. The vulnerability affects multiple version families (2020.x, 2017.x, and 2015.x) and earlier releases.
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>= 15.006.30060, < 15.006.30518>= 15.008.20082, < 20.006.20042>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30166>= 15.006.30060, < 15.006.30518>= 15.008.20082, < 20.006.20042>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30166CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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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Confirm Adobe Acrobat or Reader installationOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or check for acroRd32.exe (Reader) or Acrobat.exe (Acrobat) in typical installation directories like C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat [version]\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Reader [version]\Affected if Neither Adobe Acrobat nor Adobe Reader is installed on the system
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Identify the exact product and versionRight-click the executable (acroRd32.exe for Reader or Acrobat.exe for Acrobat), select Properties, and view the Details tab for the File Version. Alternatively, launch the application and go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader to see the exact version numberAffected if The version displayed does not match one of the affected version ranges listed in the CVE
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Compare against Classic 2015 range (15.x)If the version starts with 15.006, check if it is >= 15.006.30060 and < 15.006.30518. If the version starts with 15.008, check if it is >= 15.008.20082Affected if The installed 15.x version falls within either 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30517 or 15.008.20082 to 20.006.20041
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Compare against 2020 track rangeIf the version starts with 20, check if it is >= 20.006.20082 and < 20.006.20042Affected if The installed 20.x version is between 20.006.20082 and 20.006.20041 inclusive
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Compare against 2017 track range (17.x)If the version starts with 17.011, check if it is >= 17.011.30059 and < 17.011.30166Affected if The installed 17.x version is between 17.011.30059 and 17.011.30165 inclusive
The system is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed and its version falls within any of the three vulnerable ranges: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30517, 15.008.20082 to 20.006.20041, or 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30165.
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 data15.006.3051817.011.3016620.006.20042
Apply the vendor-supplied security updates from Adobe for the affected Acrobat and Reader versions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9615 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
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-2020-9615 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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- 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
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