CVE-2023-21608 (GCVE-0-2023-21608)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2023-01-18 00:00 – Updated: 2025-10-21 23:15Title
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC resetForm Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Summary
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 22.003.20282 (and earlier), 22.003.20281 (and earlier) and 20.005.30418 (and earlier) are affected by a Use After Free vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
Severity
7.8 (High)
SSVC
Exploitation: active
Automatable: no
Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2025-02-04 16:09 UTC
CWE
- CWE-416 - Use After Free (CWE-416)
Assigner
References
2 references
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat… | |
| https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilit… | government-resource |
Impacted products
1 product
| Vendor | Product | Version | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe | Acrobat Reader |
Affected:
unspecified , ≤ 20.005.30418
(custom)
Affected: unspecified , ≤ 22.003.20282 (custom) Affected: unspecified , ≤ 22.003.20281 (custom) Affected: unspecified , ≤ None (custom) |
Date Public
2023-01-10 00:00
CISA
Known Exploited Vulnerability - GCVE BCP-07 Compliant
KEV entry ID: cbf86be1-84f2-48cb-afc0-fc019128e1d3
Exploited: Yes
Timestamps
First Seen: 2023-10-10
Asserted: 2023-10-10
Scope
Notes: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free Vulnerability | Affected: Adobe / Acrobat and Reader | Description: Adobe Acrobat and Reader contains a use-after-free vulnerability that allows for code execution in the context of the current user. | Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. | Due date: 2023-10-31 | Known ransomware campaign use (KEV): Unknown | Notes (KEV): https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb23-01.html; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-21608
Evidence
Type: Vendor Report
Signal: Successful Exploitation
Confidence: 80%
Source: cisa-kev
Details
| Cwes | CWE-416 |
|---|---|
| Feed | CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog |
| Product | Acrobat and Reader |
| Due Date | 2023-10-31 |
| Date Added | 2023-10-10 |
| Vendorproject | Adobe |
| Vulnerabilityname | Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free Vulnerability |
| Knownransomwarecampaignuse | Unknown |
References
Created: 2026-10-02 08:09 CEST
| Updated: 2026-10-02 08:09 CEST
Previdian
Known Exploited Vulnerability - GCVE BCP-07 Compliant
KEV entry ID: ae66e070-b00b-441e-9d12-58c2c998cde7
Exploited: Yes
Timestamps
First Seen: 2023-10-10
Asserted: 2023-10-10
Scope
Notes: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC resetForm Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability | Affected: Adobe / Acrobat Reader | CVSS: 7.8 (HIGH) | EPSS: 0.61475 | Used in malware: unknown | Not yet in CISA KEV: False
Evidence
Type: Public Report
Signal: Successful Exploitation
Confidence: 70%
Source: previdian
Details
| Feed | Previdian (previdian.com) |
|---|---|
| Title | Adobe Acrobat Reader DC resetForm Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability |
| Cve Id | CVE-2023-21608 |
| Vendor | Adobe |
| Ghsa Id | None |
| Product | Acrobat Reader |
| Added Date | 2023-10-10T00:00:00.000Z |
| Cvss Score | 7.8 |
| Epss Score | 0.61475 |
| Previous Ids | |
| Cvss Severity | HIGH |
| Virtual Patch | False |
| Cvss Estimated | False |
| Epss Percentile | 0.99143 |
| Used In Malware | unknown |
| Vulnerability Id | CVE-2023-21608 |
| Ahead Of Cisa Kev | None |
| Not Yet In Cisa Kev | False |
References
Created: 2026-10-02 09:11 CEST
| Updated: 2026-10-02 09:11 CEST
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Experimental. This forecast is provided for visualization only and may change without notice. Do not use it for operational decisions.
Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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Related by attack behaviour
Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.
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