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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-27799

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2022-05-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.001.20085 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
Acrobat Reader DC versions 22.001.20085 (and earlier), 20.005.3031x (and earlier) and 17.012.30205 (and earlier) are affected by a use-after-free vulnerability in the processing of the acroform event 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 confidence

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC contains a use-after-free vulnerability in the acroform event processing module. When a victim opens a specially crafted malicious PDF file, the application improperly handles memory allocation for form objects, leading to a use-after-free condition that can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version beyond 22.001.20085 (2022), 20.005.3031x (2020), and 17.012.30205 (2017). Users should avoid opening untrusted PDF files until the patch is applied.

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:>= 15.008.20082, <= 22.001.20085
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.008.20082, <= 22.001.20085
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30205>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30314>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30311
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30205>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30314>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30311

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:3.0/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. Verify Adobe Acrobat installation
    Open Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or About Adobe Acrobat Reader) to view the version number. On Windows, you can also check the registry key at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Version or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat Reader\DC\Version
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: 15.008.20082 to 22.001.20085, 17.011.30059 to 17.012.30205, 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30314, or 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30311
  2. Confirm the product is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat DC
    Check if the installed product is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC (not older versions like Adobe Reader XI). The affected versions listed are for the continuous track (DC) releases.
    Affected if The product is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC within the affected version ranges
  3. Identify the numeric version component
    Parse the version string from About dialog or registry. For DC products, the version format is YYNN.XXXX.xxxx (e.g., 22.001.20085). Extract the first segment (22 for 2022, 20 for 2020, 17 for 2017) and compare the full version number against the affected ranges.
    Affected if The version number starts with 15 (15.008.xxxx), 17 (17.011.xxxx to 17.012.xxxx), 20 (20.001.xxxx to 20.005.xxxx), or 22 (22.001.xxxx) and is at or below the upper bounds listed

A user is affected if they have Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC installed with a version between 15.008.20082 and 22.001.20085, or the 17.x and 20.x versions listed in the affected ranges, as these contain the vulnerable acroform event processing module.

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 22.001.20085
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version beyond 22.001.20085 (2022), 20.005.3031x (2020), and 17.012.30205 (2017). Users should avoid opening untrusted PDF files until the patch is applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to versions newer than 22.001.20085, 20.005.3031x, or 17.012.30205 (Adobe releases continuous updates; obtain latest from official Adobe channels)

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat DC application
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader/Acrobat to check current version)
  3. 3. Note the current version number and compare against affected versions: 22.001.20085 and earlier, 20.005.3031x and earlier, 17.012.30205 and earlier
  4. 4. If affected, download the latest version from the official Adobe website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (for Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (for Acrobat)
  5. 5. Close all Adobe applications before installing the update
  6. 6. Run the downloaded installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the upgrade
  7. 7. After installation, verify the new version is no longer within the affected range
Caveat Standard Adobe update; minimal risk - ensure backup of important PDF files before updating

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
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,270
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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-2022-27799 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