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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-38240

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 that could allow disclosure of sensitive memory. An attacker could leverage this flaw to read beyond allocated buffer boundaries, potentially revealing sensitive data and aiding in bypassing ASLR security mitigations. Exploitation requires a victim to open a maliciously crafted PDF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest version (23.006.20360 or later for 23.x, 20.005.30496 or later for 20.x) and exercise caution when opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

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. Verify Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed
    Check for Adobe Acrobat installation by looking in Program Files (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat XXXX) or using the Windows registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat)
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed Adobe Acrobat version
    Open Adobe Acrobat/Reader, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader, or check the version in the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\InstallPath\Version (e.g., look for version value like 23.003.20269 or 20.005.30516)
    Affected if A version is found that falls within the affected ranges: 15.008.20082 through 23.003.20268 for DC products, or 20.001.30005 through 20.005.30516.10516 (excluding 20.005.30514.10514 and below 20.005.30496 for 20.x versions)

If Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed and the version number falls within the affected ranges listed above, the environment is vulnerable to this out-of-bounds read flaw.

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

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest version (23.006.20360 or later for 23.x, 20.005.30496 or later for 20.x) and exercise caution when opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat Reader/Acrobat 23.003.20269 (Continuous/2023 track) or 20.005.30516.10516 (2020 track)

  1. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat on your system
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader/Acrobat)
  3. 3. If an update is available, download and install the latest version
  4. 4. Alternatively, download the latest version from the official Adobe website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (for Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (for Acrobat)
  5. 5. Restart the application after installation
  6. 6. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed release for your branch (23.003.20269 or later for Continuous/2023 track; 20.005.30516.10516 or later for 2020 track)
Caveat Standard Adobe update - no known breaking changes for this security patch; standard compatibility with existing PDF workflows expected

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
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2023-38240 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