dbcve.org
IncopyApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-38406

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.3 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 InCopy version 17.3 (and earlier) and 16.4.2 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read 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

Adobe InCopy versions 17.3 and earlier, and 16.4.2 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. An attacker can craft a malicious file that, when opened by a victim, causes the application to read memory beyond allocated boundaries, leading to sensitive memory disclosure and potential ASLR bypass.

MitigationUpdate Adobe InCopy to the latest patched version. Users should avoid opening untrusted or unexpected file attachments.

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
IncopyApplication
Affected:>= 16.0, <= 16.4.2>= 17.0, <= 17.3

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. Verify Adobe InCopy is installed
    Check for InCopy installation on the system. On Windows, look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InCopy or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe InCopy. On macOS, check /Applications/Adobe InCopy. Alternatively, use system software inventory tools.
    Affected if Adobe InCopy is present on the system
  2. Determine the installed InCopy version
    Open Adobe InCopy and navigate to Help > About Adobe InCopy to display the version number. Alternatively, check the version in the application binary properties or installation metadata.
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or InCopy is not found
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Review the version number identified. Affected versions are 16.0 through 16.4.2 (16.x series) and 17.0 through 17.3 (17.x series).
    Affected if Installed version is 16.0 to 16.4.2 inclusive, or 17.0 to 17.3 inclusive
  4. Confirm vulnerability trigger condition
    The flaw requires opening a specially crafted malicious file in InCopy. The vulnerability exists in the file parsing functionality.
    Affected if Running a vulnerable InCopy version AND opening a malicious crafted file would trigger the out-of-bounds read

A user is affected if Adobe InCopy version 16.0-16.4.2 or 17.0-17.3 is installed and the application is used to open files, as the out-of-bounds read occurs during file parsing.

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 17.3
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe InCopy to the latest patched version. Users should avoid opening untrusted or unexpected file attachments.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InCopy 16.4.3+ (for 16.x line) or InCopy 17.4+ (for 17.x line)

  1. 1. Verify the current InCopy version by opening the application, then going to Help > About InCopy
  2. 2. For InCopy 16.x users: Upgrade to version 16.4.3 or later (the first version after the vulnerable 16.4.2 release)
  3. 3. For InCopy 17.x users: Upgrade to version 17.4 or later (the first version after the vulnerable 17.3 release)
  4. 4. Download the updated version from the official Adobe website at helpx.adobe.com or through the Creative Cloud desktop application
  5. 5. Close all instances of InCopy before installing the update
  6. 6. After installation, confirm the new version number matches the fixed release
Caveat Standard minor version upgrades typically do not introduce breaking changes; however, verify compatibility with existing workflows and linked documents after updating

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

Fix this in Incopy 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.

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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-2022-38406 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