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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-28248

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.001.20085 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 an out-of-bounds read vulnerability when parsing a crafted file, which could result in a read past the end of an allocated memory structure. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to bypass mitigations such as ASLR. 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 an out-of-bounds read vulnerability when parsing crafted PDF files. The vulnerability allows reading past the end of an allocated memory structure, which could be leveraged to bypass security mitigations like ASLR. Exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious PDF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest version. 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Adobe product
    Open Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat. On the Help menu, click 'About Adobe Acrobat Reader' or 'About Adobe Acrobat' to see which product is installed.
    Affected if The product is either Adobe Acrobat DC, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  2. Determine the exact version number
    Note the full version number displayed in the About dialog. This typically appears as a long number such as 20.005.30314 or 22.001.20085.
    Affected if A version is displayed that matches one of the affected version ranges.
  3. Compare installed version against affected ranges
    Check if the installed version falls within any of these ranges: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085 (DC/Reader DC); 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30205 (classic); 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30314 or 20.005.30311 (classic).
    Affected if The installed version is greater than or equal to the lower bound AND less than or equal to the upper bound of any affected range.
  4. Confirm exploitation requires user action
    This vulnerability is triggered only when parsing a crafted malicious PDF file. The vulnerability exists in the PDF parsing component.
    Affected if A user has Adobe Acrobat or Reader installed with an affected version AND opens a malicious PDF file.

The environment is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed with a version number within any of the specified ranges and the user could open a crafted PDF file.

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 version. Avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 22.001.2012 or later; 20.005.3034 or later; 17.012.3023 or later (or latest available version)

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader on the affected system
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  3. 3. Allow the application to check for and install any available updates
  4. 4. Alternatively, download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC from the official Adobe website (get.adobe.com/reader) or Adobe Acrobat from the Adobe website
  5. 5. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the update
  6. 6. Restart the application after the update completes
  7. 7. Verify the version by going to Help > About (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader) to confirm the version is beyond the vulnerable releases
Caveat None expected - Adobe security updates are cumulative and non-breaking

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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

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-2022-28248 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