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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-28240

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 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 version 22.001.2011x (and earlier), 20.005.3033x (and earlier) and 17.012.3022x (and earlier) are affected by a use-after-free vulnerability 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

A use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC allows arbitrary code execution in the current user's context. The vulnerability is triggered when a victim opens a specially crafted malicious PDF file, causing the application to use a pointer to memory that has already been freed, potentially leading to code execution.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version (22.001.20142 or later for the 22.x track, 20.005.30334 or later for the 20.x track, and 17.012.30293 or later for the 17.x track). Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected PDF files from unknown 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:3.1/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 the installed Adobe product
    Check if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed. On Windows, look in Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC or Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC. On Mac, check /Applications for Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
    Affected if Neither Acrobat nor Acrobat Reader is installed, then the user is not affected.
  2. Determine the exact product version
    On Windows, open the application, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat DC (or Reader). Alternatively, check the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\InstallVersion for the version string (Key: Version).
    Affected if Unable to determine the version, skip further checks and treat as potentially affected if the product is installed.
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Match the installed version number to these ranges: DC track: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085; Classic track 17.x: 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30205; Classic track 20.x: 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30314 (Acrobat) or 20.005.30311 (Reader).
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges, the installation is vulnerable.
  4. Confirm the vulnerability trigger condition
    The vulnerability requires a user to open a specially crafted malicious PDF file. Check if the application is configured to open PDF files automatically or if users frequently open PDF attachments from untrusted sources.
    Affected if Vulnerable version AND users open PDF files from unknown or untrusted sources, the user is at high risk.

A user is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader DC is installed with a version number between the affected ranges AND the user opens PDF files (including from untrusted sources), as the flaw is triggered upon opening a malicious PDF.

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 (22.001.20142 or later for the 22.x track, 20.005.30334 or later for the 20.x track, and 17.012.30293 or later for the 17.x track). Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected PDF files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Acrobat Reader DC / Acrobat DC version 22.001.2012 or later; version 20.005.3034 or later; version 17.012.3023 or later

  1. 1. Verify the current version of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (or About Adobe Acrobat DC)
  2. 2. Close all Adobe applications completely
  3. 3. Download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC from the official Adobe website (get.adobe.com/reader for Reader, or adobe.com for Acrobat)
  4. 4. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
  5. 5. After installation, verify the version has been updated to a version newer than the affected versions listed (22.001.201x, 20.005.303x, or 17.012.302x)
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - ensure compatibility with existing workflows and plugins before deploying organization-wide

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
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2022-28240 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