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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 27 Apr 2026.
Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2020-9715

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 20.009.20074 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit No privileges Patch available

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 2020.009.20074 and earlier, 2020.001.30002, 2017.011.30171 and earlier, and 2015.006.30523 and earlier have an use-after-free 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 · high confidence

Adobe Acrobat and Reader contain a use-after-free vulnerability where memory is accessed after it has been freed, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code via a specially crafted PDF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest patched versions (2020.006.20034 or later for 2020.x, 2017.011.30172 or later for 2017.x, 2015.006.30524 or later for 2015.x).

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, <= 15.006.30523>= 15.008.20082, <= 20.009.20074>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30171= 20.001.30002
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30523>= 15.008.20082, <= 20.009.20074>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30171= 20.001.30002

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Adobe product
    Open the application and go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader, or on Windows check the version in Add/Remove Programs
    Affected if The product is Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
  2. Determine exact version number
    Note the full version number displayed (format varies by release track: 15.x.x.xxxxx for older tracks, 17.x.x.xxxxx for 2017 track, 20.x.x.xxxxx for 2020 track)
    Affected if Any version of Acrobat or Reader DC is installed
  3. Compare version against vulnerable ranges
    Match your installed version against these affected ranges: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30523; 15.008.20082 to 20.009.20074; 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30171; exactly 20.001.30002
    Affected if The installed version falls within or below any of these ranges (15.006.30060 through 15.006.30523, 15.008.20082 through 20.009.20074, 17.011.30059 through 17.011.30171, or equals 20.001.30002)
  4. Confirm release track
    Look at the first two digits of the version number: 15.x.x.xxxx = 2015 track, 17.x.x.xxxx = 2017 track, 20.x.x.xxxx = 2020 track
    Affected if The version belongs to any of the affected tracks listed above

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed and its version matches or falls within any of the vulnerable version ranges specified in the CVE.

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 a release after 20.009.20074
Vendor patch blog.exodusintel.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest patched versions (2020.006.20034 or later for 2020.x, 2017.011.30172 or later for 2017.x, 2015.006.30524 or later for 2015.x).

Recommended fix High confidence

Acrobat/Reader 2020.006.20034 or later for 2020 track; 2017.011.30172 or later for 2017 track; 2015.006.30524 or later for 2015 track

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader
  2. 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates or navigate to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader
  3. 3. Download and install the latest security update from Adobe's official download page
  4. 4. Alternatively, visit helpx.adobe.com to find the specific security update for CVE-2020-9715
  5. 5. After installation, verify the version by going to Help > About to confirm the update was applied
Caveat Major version upgrades may include feature changes; ensure compatibility with existing workflows and plugins

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

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-9715 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