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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-35670

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.001.20169 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
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 22.001.20169 (and earlier), 20.005.30362 (and earlier) and 17.012.30249 (and earlier) are affected by a Use After Free vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. 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

Use After Free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader that allows disclosure of sensitive memory and can be exploited to bypass ASLR mitigations. Exploitation requires victim to open a malicious PDF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20169, 20.005.30362, or 17.012.30249 as applicable to the deployment.

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, <= 22.001.20169
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.008.20082, <= 22.001.20169
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30362>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30249
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30362>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.012.30249

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 or Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat). The product name displayed indicates whether you have Acrobat or Reader, and whether it is the Dc (Document Cloud) variant.
    Affected if The installed product is Adobe Acrobat Dc, Adobe Acrobat Reader Dc, Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  2. Determine the installed version number
    In the About dialog, note the full version number shown (for example, 22.001.20169). On Windows, you can also right-click the executable in Program Files, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the Product Version.
    Affected if A version number is displayed in the About dialog or file properties.
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Compare your installed version number to these ranges: DC variants: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20169 (inclusive); Classic tracks 2020: 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30362 (inclusive); Classic tracks 2017: 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30249 (inclusive).
    Affected if Your installed version falls within any of these ranges: 15.008.20082 to 22.001.20169, 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30362, or 17.011.30059 to 17.012.30249.
  4. Verify PDF handling is enabled
    Confirm that PDF file association is enabled and Adobe Acrobat Reader/Acrobat is set as the default PDF handler. Check this in Windows Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Choose default apps by file type, or within the Adobe application under Edit > Preferences > General > Select Default PDF Handler.
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Acrobat is configured to open PDF files by default.
  5. Assess exposure to untrusted PDFs
    Determine whether users in your environment commonly open PDF files from untrusted or unknown sources, or receive them via email, web downloads, or removable media. This is the attack vector required for exploitation.
    Affected if Users in your environment open PDF files from untrusted or unknown sources.

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Acrobat is installed with a version number within the ranges 15.008.20082-22.001.20169, 20.001.30005-20.005.30362, or 17.011.30059-17.012.30249, and users open untrusted PDF files.

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 22.001.20169
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 22.001.20169, 20.005.30362, or 17.012.30249 as applicable to the deployment.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Acrobat DC/Reader DC 22.002.20555 (or later); Classic 2020 20.006.30523 (or later); Classic 2017 17.012.30260 (or later)

  1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
  2. Go to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About and then select Check for Updates).
  3. Allow the application to connect to Adobe’s update servers and download the latest version.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the update and restart the application.
  5. After restart, verify the installed version by selecting Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader). Confirm the version is greater than the vulnerable releases (e.g., 22.002.x, 20.006.x, or 17.012.x).
  6. Alternatively, download the latest installer from Adobe’s official download page (https://get.adobe.com/reader for Reader, or https://acrobat.adobe.com for Acrobat) and run the installer to upgrade.

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

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2022-35670 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