CVE-2021-33795
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 · uneditedFoxit Reader before 10.1.4 and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4 produce incorrect PDF document signatures because the certificate name, document owner, and signature author are mishandled.
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 confidenceFoxit Reader and PhantomPDF versions before 10.1.4 incorrectly handle certificate names, document owners, and signature authors when processing PDF document signatures, leading to invalid or incorrect signature verification results.
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< 10.1.4< 10.1.4CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Check for Foxit Reader installationOpen Windows Settings > Apps & Features, or use Control Panel > Programs and Features, and look for 'Foxit Reader' in the installed software list. Note the version shown.Affected if Foxit Reader is listed with a version lower than 10.1.4
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Check for PhantomPDF installationOpen Windows Settings > Apps & Features, or use Control Panel > Programs and Features, and look for 'PhantomPDF' or 'Foxit PhantomPDF' in the installed software list. Note the version shown.Affected if PhantomPDF is listed with a version lower than 10.1.4
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Verify Foxit Reader version via executableNavigate to the Foxit Reader installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Foxit Software\Foxit Reader), right-click on FoxitReader.exe, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the Product version.Affected if The executable shows a version number below 10.1.4 (for example, 10.1.3, 10.1.0, or earlier)
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Verify PhantomPDF version via executableNavigate to the PhantomPDF installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Foxit Software\Foxit PhantomPDF), right-click on PhantomPDF.exe, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the Product version.Affected if The executable shows a version number below 10.1.4 (for example, 10.1.3, 10.1.0, or earlier)
Your environment is affected if you have either Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF installed with a version number less than 10.1.4 and you process PDF documents with digital signatures.
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 data10.1.4
Upgrade Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF to version 10.1.4 or later to resolve the signature mishandling issue.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-33795 — 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-2021-33795 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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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.
- 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