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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-38239

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.005.30514.10514 / 20.005.30516.10516 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 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (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 Acrobat Reader contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability where the application reads memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries. This can expose sensitive memory contents and potentially leak addresses that enable attackers to defeat ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) as a defense-in-depth mitigation. Exploitation requires tricking a user into opening a specially crafted malicious PDF file.

MitigationApply the vendor-released security updates for Adobe Acrobat Reader (23.006.20360 or later for 2023 track, 20.005.30524 or later for 2020 track). Until patched, exercise caution with untrusted PDF documents and disable JavaScript in Reader settings to reduce attack surface.

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, < 23.003.20269
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.008.20082, < 23.003.20269
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30516.10516>= 20.001.30005, < 20.005.30514.10514
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, < 20.005.30516.10516>= 20.001.30005, < 20.005.30514.10514

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 Adobe Acrobat Reader installation
    Open Adobe Acrobat Reader and navigate to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader, or check Programs and Features (Windows) / Applications folder (macOS) for installed Adobe products
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat is not installed - user is not affected
  2. Determine the installed product name and version
    Locate the exact product name (Acrobat Reader DC, Acrobat DC, Acrobat 2020, etc.) and full version number from the About dialog or installed programs list
    Affected if Product name is not one of the affected Adobe Acrobat or Reader variants - user is not affected
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Match your installed version number against: 15.008.20082 to 23.003.20269 (2023 track), or 20.001.30005 to 20.005.30516.10516 / 20.005.30514.10514 (2020 track)
    Affected if Installed version falls within or overlaps any affected range - user is potentially affected

User is affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Acrobat (2020 or 2023 track) is installed with a version between the minimum and maximum affected versions listed for the respective track.

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 20.005.30514.10514 / 20.005.30516.10516 / 23.003.20269 or later
Fixed in 20.005.30514.1051420.005.30516.1051623.003.20269
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-released security updates for Adobe Acrobat Reader (23.006.20360 or later for 2023 track, 20.005.30524 or later for 2020 track). Until patched, exercise caution with untrusted PDF documents and disable JavaScript in Reader settings to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

Acrobat Dc/Reader Dc: 23.003.20269 or later; Acrobat/Acrobat Reader (classic): 20.005.30516.10516 or 20.005.30514.10514 or later

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat application
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or use the Help menu)
  3. 3. Allow the application to check for available updates
  4. 4. If an update is available, download and install the latest version
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the fixed version directly from the official Adobe website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (for Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (for Acrobat)
  6. 6. Restart the application after updating
  7. 7. Verify the installed version by going to Help > About Adobe Acrobat [Reader]
Caveat Standard update; ensure compatibility with any plugins or integrations

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
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2023-38239 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