dbcve.org
BridgeApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-38217

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.0.4 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 Bridge versions 12.0.4 (and earlier) and 13.0.3 (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 Bridge versions 12.0.4 and earlier, and 13.0.3 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows disclosure of sensitive memory contents. An attacker can exploit this by crafting a malicious file that, when opened by a victim, enables memory disclosure which could be used to bypass ASLR and other memory protection mitigations.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Bridge to the latest patched version to remediate this vulnerability. Users should avoid opening files from untrusted sources, as exploitation requires user interaction.

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
BridgeApplication
Affected:<= 12.0.4>= 13.0.0, < 13.0.4

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. Check if Adobe Bridge is installed
    On Windows, look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Bridge. On macOS, check /Applications/Adobe Bridge. Alternatively, use system inventory or software deployment tools to query for Adobe Bridge installation.
    Affected if Adobe Bridge is found installed on the system
  2. Determine the installed Adobe Bridge version
    On Windows, open Adobe Bridge, go to Help > About Adobe Bridge, or check the Windows registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Bridge\Version. On macOS, right-click Adobe Bridge in Applications > Get Info, or run: defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ Bridge*/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString
    Affected if A version number is retrieved from the installation
  3. Compare installed version against affected ranges
    Compare the installed version number to the affected ranges: version 12.0.4 or earlier, or version 13.0.0 through 13.0.3. Any version in these ranges is vulnerable. Versions 13.0.4 and later, or 12.0.5 and later (if available) are patched.
    Affected if Installed version is 12.0.4 or lower, OR installed version is 13.0.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.2, or 13.0.3
  4. Assess user likelihood of opening files with Adobe Bridge
    Review user behavior, corporate policies, or endpoint telemetry to determine if users routinely open image or media files using Adobe Bridge as the default or preferred application.
    Affected if Users frequently open files (especially from external or untrusted sources) using Adobe Bridge

A system is affected if Adobe Bridge is installed with version 12.0.4 or earlier, or version 13.0.0 through 13.0.3, and users may open potentially malicious files with the application.

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 13.0.4 or later
Fixed in 13.0.4
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Bridge to the latest patched version to remediate this vulnerability. Users should avoid opening files from untrusted sources, as exploitation requires user interaction.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Bridge 13.0.4 or later (or 12.0.5 or later for the 12.x branch)

  1. 1. Close Adobe Bridge if it is currently running
  2. 2. Navigate to the official Adobe download page at helpx.adobe.com
  3. 3. Download Adobe Bridge version 13.0.4 (or later) for the 13.x branch, or version 12.0.5 (or later) for the 12.x branch
  4. 4. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the upgrade
  5. 5. After installation, verify the installed version by opening Bridge and checking Help > About Adobe Bridge
Caveat Users on older 12.x versions should note that migrating to 13.x may introduce UI changes; review Adobe's feature documentation before upgrading

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

Fix this in Bridge Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

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-2023-38217 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