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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-34229

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

This is a Use After Free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Use After Free bugs occur when a program continues to use a memory pointer after the associated memory has been freed, potentially allowing an attacker to inject malicious code into the freed memory region. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user, but requires the victim to open a specially crafted malicious PDF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20142, 20.005.30334, or 17.012.30229 (depending on the product line). Avoid opening untrusted 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, <= 22.001.20142
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. Identify installed Adobe Acrobat or Reader product
    On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs or use 'wmic product' command. On macOS, check /Applications folder. Look for product name (Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader DC, Acrobat 2020, Acrobat Reader 2020, Acrobat 2017, or Acrobat Reader 2017).
    Affected if Product is Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader of any version in the DC, 2020, or 2017 product lines.
  2. Determine installed version number
    Open the application, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or Acrobat). Note the version number displayed (format varies: DC versions like 22.001.20142, 2020 versions like 20.005.30334, 2017 versions like 17.012.30229).
    Affected if Version falls within any of these ranges: 15.008.20082 to 22.001.20142 (DC), 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30334 or 20.005.30331 (2020), 17.011.30059 to 17.012.30229 or 17.012.30227 (2017).
  3. Confirm vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
    This vulnerability requires a specially crafted malicious PDF file to be opened. Check if the application is configured to automatically open PDF files from untrusted sources or if users commonly open PDF attachments from unknown senders.
    Affected if Users have the ability to open PDF files from untrusted or unknown sources, and the version falls within affected ranges.

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed with a version between 15.008.20082 and 22.001.20142 (DC), 20.001.30005 and 20.005.30334/20.005.30331 (2020), or 17.011.30059 and 17.012.30229/17.012.30227 (2017), and users open PDF files from untrusted sources.

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 22.001.20142
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20142, 20.005.30334, or 17.012.30229 (depending on the product line). Avoid opening untrusted PDF files from unknown sources.

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,780
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2022-34229 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