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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-27802

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 annotations 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 · moderate confidence

This is a use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC's annotation processing functionality. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious PDF file containing manipulated annotations, the software improperly handles memory, allowing an attacker to free an object while a pointer to it still exists. This can be leveraged to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user session.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version (22.001.20093 or later for Continuous track, 20.005.30334 or later for 2020 track, 17.012.30233 or later for 2017 track). Until patched, avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

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. Check if Adobe Acrobat or Reader DC is installed
    On Windows, open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\InstallVersion, or check Add/Remove Programs for Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is present on the system.
  2. Determine the installed version number
    In Windows Registry, read the value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\InstallVersion\Version (e.g., 22.001.20085). Alternatively, right-click the Acrobat executable in Program Files, select Properties, and check the File Version on the Details tab.
    Affected if A version number is found in the affected ranges: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085 for DC track; 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30205, 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30314, or 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30311 for classic tracks.
  3. Identify the product track and compare to affected ranges
    Determine if the installation is Continuous track (DC), 2020 track (classic), or 2017 track (classic) by checking the version prefix. For DC track: versions 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085 are affected. For 2020 track: versions 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30314 are affected. For 2017 track: versions 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30205 are affected.
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed.

If Adobe Acrobat DC or Reader DC is installed with a version between 15.008.20082 and 22.001.20085 (Continuous track), or between 20.001.30005 and 20.005.30314 (2020 track), or between 17.011.30059 and 17.012.30205 (2017 track), the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 22.001.20085
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version (22.001.20093 or later for Continuous track, 20.005.30334 or later for 2020 track, 17.012.30233 or later for 2017 track). Until patched, avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,800
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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-2022-27802 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