dbcve.org
Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-20733

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.005.30574 / 23.008.20533 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Patch available

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 versions 20.005.30539, 23.008.20470 and earlier are affected by an Improper Input Validation vulnerability that could lead to an application denial-of-service. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to cause the application to crash, resulting in a denial of service. 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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-20

The application accepts input without confirming it is well-formed or within expected bounds, so malformed data can push the program into states its author never anticipated. Attackers probe these gaps to trigger crashes, bypass logic, or feed tainted values into more dangerous operations downstream. Remediating it well means validating and normalising every input at the boundary against a strict allow-list — not merely filtering known-bad values.

General guidance for the improper input validation class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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, < 23.008.20533
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.008.20082, < 23.008.20533
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, < 20.005.30574
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.30005, < 20.005.30574

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 20.005.30574 / 23.008.20533 or later
Fixed in 20.005.3057423.008.20533
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat/Reader 20.005.30574 or later for version 20.x; Adobe Acrobat/Reader 23.008.20533 or later for version 23.x (Acrobat DC/Reader DC)

  1. 1. Verify the current version of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or About Adobe Acrobat Reader).
  2. 2. Close all Adobe Acrobat/Reader instances and any applications using PDF functionality.
  3. 3. For Windows: Download the latest version from https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (Reader) or https://get.adobe.com/acrobat/ (Acrobat). For macOS: Use the same links and select the macOS version.
  4. 4. Run the installer with administrator privileges and complete the installation wizard.
  5. 5. Alternatively, use the automatic update feature: Open Acrobat/Reader, go to Help > Check for Updates, and follow the prompts to install the latest version.
  6. 6. After installation, restart the computer and verify the version matches or exceeds 20.005.30574 (for version 20.x) or 23.008.20533 (for version 23.x).
Caveat Standard Adobe update - minimal risk; ensure user files are saved before updating

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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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-2024-20733 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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