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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-44514

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.001.20085 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
Acrobat Reader DC version 22.001.20085 (and earlier), 20.005.3031x (and earlier) and 17.012.30205 (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 in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC allows arbitrary code execution when a victim opens a specially crafted malicious PDF file. The vulnerability exists due to improper memory management, enabling an attacker to free memory and then access it after it has been deallocated.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to the latest patched version. Until patched, avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources and disable JavaScript in Acrobat Reader settings.

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
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 product
    Open Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat) to view the exact version number
    Affected if The product is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC and the version shown falls within the affected ranges
  2. Check DC version against affected range
    Compare your displayed version to the DC range: 15.008.20082 through 22.001.20085 (all versions from 15.008.20082 up to and including 22.001.20085 are affected)
    Affected if The installed version is greater than or equal to 15.008.20082 AND less than or equal to 22.001.20085
  3. Check non-DC version against first affected range
    Compare your displayed version to the range: 17.011.30059 through 17.012.30205
    Affected if The installed version is between 17.011.30059 and 17.012.30205 inclusive
  4. Check non-DC version against second affected range
    Compare your displayed version to the range: 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30314 or 20.005.30311
    Affected if The installed version is between 20.001.30005 and 20.005.30314 inclusive, or between 20.001.30005 and 20.005.30311 inclusive

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Adobe Acrobat DC is installed with a version number within any of the listed affected ranges, and the vulnerability is triggered when opening a specially crafted malicious 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 patched version. Until patched, avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources and disable JavaScript in Acrobat Reader settings.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat/Reader 22.001.20086 or later for Continuous track; 20.005.30315 or later for Classic 2020 track; 17.012.30206 or later for Classic 2017 track

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader application
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or use the menu specific to your OS)
  3. 3. Allow the application to check for available updates
  4. 4. If updates are available, review the update details to confirm it includes the security fix for CVE-2022-44514
  5. 5. Download and install the recommended update
  6. 6. Restart the application after installation
  7. 7. Verify the version has been updated by going to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader)
Caveat Standard Adobe update - minimal risk; ensure backup of critical PDFs before major version upgrades

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-2022-44514 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