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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-34220

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.001.20142 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
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 22.001.20142 (and earlier), 20.005.30334 (and earlier) and 17.012.30229 (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 exists in Adobe Acrobat Reader where the application continues to use a memory pointer after it has been freed. When a victim opens a specially crafted malicious PDF file, this memory corruption can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user's privileges.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20142, 20.005.30334, or 17.012.30229 as appropriate. Additionally, educate users to avoid opening untrusted PDF files and consider disabling JavaScript execution in Acrobat Reader as a hardening measure.

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, <= 22.001.20142
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.008.20082, <= 22.001.20142
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30334>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30331>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30229>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30227
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30334>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30331>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30229>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30227

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. Locate Adobe Acrobat or Reader installation
    Open Adobe Acrobat/Reader, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat). Alternatively, check the executable properties of the installed AcroRd32.exe or AcroExch.exe file in the program directory.
    Affected if Application is installed
  2. Identify the exact version number
    Note the version displayed in the About dialog (format typically shows three sets of numbers like XX.XXX.XXXXX). For Classic versions (17.x, 20.x), note the 17.x or 20.x prefix.
    Affected if Version is visible in About dialog or file properties
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Match your installed version against: Classic 17.x (17.011.30059 to 17.012.30227/30229), Classic 20.x (20.001.30005 to 20.005.30331/30334), or Continuous 15.x-22.x (15.008.20082 to 22.001.20142). Check if your version falls within any of these ranges.
    Affected if Installed version is >= 15.008.20082 AND <= 22.001.20142 (for DC/Reader DC); OR >= 17.011.30059 AND <= 17.012.30227/30229 (Classic 17); OR >= 20.001.30005 AND <= 20.005.30331/30334 (Classic 20)
  4. Determine product type and track
    Identify whether you have Acrobat (paid) or Acrobat Reader (free), and whether it is the Continuous track (DC) or Classic track (standalone version numbers). This matters for exact range matching.
    Affected if Product is Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, any track

You are affected if your installed Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader version falls within any of the listed vulnerable ranges and the user can be persuaded to open a specially 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 22.001.20142
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20142, 20.005.30334, or 17.012.30229 as appropriate. Additionally, educate users to avoid opening untrusted PDF files and consider disabling JavaScript execution in Acrobat Reader as a hardening measure.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Acrobat DC 22.001.20143 or later; Acrobat Reader DC 22.001.20143 or later; Acrobat 2020 20.005.30335 or later; Acrobat Reader 2020 20.005.30335 or later; Acrobat 2017 17.012.30230 or later; Acrobat Reader 2017 17.012.30230 or later

  1. Navigate to Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader download page at helpx.adobe.com
  2. Download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
  3. Close all running instances of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader
  4. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation
  5. Restart your computer if prompted
  6. Verify the installed version by opening Adobe Acrobat/Reader and checking Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader
Caveat Adobe security updates typically do not introduce breaking changes; however, always test in a non-production environment 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
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,900
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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-2022-34220 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