dbcve.org
Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-28237

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 · high confidence

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC's annotation processing allows arbitrary code execution when a victim opens a malicious PDF file containing specially crafted annotations. The vulnerability exploits freed memory being accessed, leading to code execution in the current user's context.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to version 22.001.20093 or later (for 22.x), 20.005.30334 or later (for 20.x), or 17.012.30293 or later (for 17.x). 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
    Check for installed Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader. On Windows, check Program Files or Program Files (x86) for Adobe folders, or use the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Acrobat apps.
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    On Windows, open Help > About (in the application) or check the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\[version]\InstallPath for the Version key. On macOS, right-click the app in Applications, select Get Info, and read the Version field.
    Affected if The installed version cannot be determined or the application is not found
  3. Compare version against affected ranges for DC products
    Compare your DC version (15.x, 17.x, 20.x, 22.x) against these ranges: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085. If your version starts with 15, 17, 20, 21, or 22 and falls within or equals these bounds, you are in the affected range.
    Affected if The installed DC version is >= 15.008.20082 and <= 22.001.20085
  4. Compare version against affected ranges for legacy products
    For non-DC Acrobat/Reader (2017, 2020), compare your version against: 17.011.30059 to 17.012.30205, or 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30314 (or 20.005.30311 for Reader). If your version falls within these ranges, you are affected.
    Affected if The installed legacy version is >= 17.011.30059 and <= 17.012.30205, OR >= 20.001.30005 and <= 20.005.30314 (or 20.005.30311 for Reader)

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed and the version falls within any of the listed vulnerable ranges (15.008.20082-22.001.20085 for DC, 17.011.30059-17.012.30205 or 20.001.30005-20.005.30314 for legacy versions).

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 version 22.001.20093 or later (for 22.x), 20.005.30334 or later (for 20.x), or 17.012.30293 or later (for 17.x). Users should avoid opening untrusted PDF files until the patch is applied.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 22.001.20169 or later (2022 track); 20.005.30334 or later (2020 track); 17.012.30212 or later (2017 track)

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader on your system
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  3. 3. Allow the application to check for available updates
  4. 4. If updates are available, download and install the latest version
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the latest version from the official Adobe website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (for Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (for Acrobat)
  6. 6. Restart the application after installation
  7. 7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed release (22.001.20169 or later for 2022 releases)
Caveat Adobe updates typically include security fixes with minimal functional changes; standard upgrade considerations apply (backup files, verify compatibility with workflows)

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

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-28237 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-28237 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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