AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-64785

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.005.30838 / 24.001.30307 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 versions 24.001.30264, 20.005.30793, 25.001.20982, 24.001.30273, 20.005.30803 and earlier are affected by an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability that might allow attackers to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the application uses a search path to locate critical resources such as programs, an attacker could modify that search path to point to a malicious program, which the targeted application would then execute. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that the user needs to 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 Untrusted Search Path vulnerability where the application uses a search path to locate critical resources such as programs. Attackers can modify this search path to point to a malicious program, which the targeted application then executes. Exploitation requires user interaction—the victim must open a malicious file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest patched version provided by Adobe. Additionally, ensure users are trained to only open files from trusted sources and consider enterprise deployment of security patches.

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
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.3005, < 20.005.30838>= 24.001.20604, < 24.001.30307>= 24.001.20604, < 24.001.30308
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:< 25.001.20997
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 20.001.3005, < 20.005.30838
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:< 25.001.20997

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. Check Adobe Acrobat Reader installed version on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\InstallPath, or right-click the Adobe Acrobat Reader executable (AcroRd32.exe), select Properties, and view the Details tab for the Product Version.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within these ranges: 20.001.3005 through 20.005.30837, or 24.001.20604 through 24.001.30306, or any version earlier than 25.001.20997.
  2. Check Adobe Acrobat (not Reader) installed version on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\InstallPath, or right-click the Adobe Acrobat executable (Acrobat.exe), select Properties, and view the Details tab for the Product Version.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within these ranges: 20.001.3005 through 20.005.30837, 24.001.20604 through 24.001.30306, or 24.001.20604 through 24.001.30307, or any version earlier than 25.001.20997.
  3. Check version via Help menu in the application
    Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat) to display the exact version number.
    Affected if The version shown in the About dialog matches any of the affected version ranges listed above.
  4. Compare your version to the affected ranges
    If you have determined your version number, manually compare it against the vulnerable ranges: versions 20.001.3005 through 20.005.30837 are affected; versions 24.001.20604 through 24.001.30306 (or 24.001.30307 depending on product) are affected; versions below 25.001.20997 are affected for DC variants.
    Affected if Your installed version falls into any of these ranges, making your installation vulnerable to the untrusted search path flaw.

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat is installed with a version number within the ranges 20.001.3005-20.005.30837, 24.001.20604-24.001.30306, or below 25.001.20997 for DC variants.

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 20.005.30838 / 24.001.30307 / 24.001.30308 or later
Fixed in 20.005.3083824.001.3030724.001.30308
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest patched version provided by Adobe. Additionally, ensure users are trained to only open files from trusted sources and consider enterprise deployment of security patches.

Recommended fix High confidence

20.005.30838 (Acrobat/Reader 20.x), 24.001.30308 (Acrobat 24.x), 25.001.20997 (Acrobat DC/Reader DC)

  1. Identify the specific Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader product installed (Acrobat, Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader, or Acrobat Reader DC) and note the current version number
  2. For Acrobat 20.x users: Upgrade to version 20.005.30838 or later
  3. For Acrobat 24.x users: Upgrade to version 24.001.30308 or later
  4. For Acrobat DC users: Upgrade to version 25.001.20997 or later
  5. For Acrobat Reader 20.x users: Upgrade to version 20.005.30838 or later
  6. For Acrobat Reader DC users: Upgrade to version 25.001.20997 or later
  7. Download the appropriate fixed version from the official Adobe website (helpx.adobe.com)
  8. Close all running Adobe applications before installing the update
Caveat Standard Adobe update; review release notes for any changes to features or functionality

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

Fix this in Acrobat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-64785 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2025-64785 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