Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2017-16398: Adobe Acrobat: Use after free

CVE-2017-16398 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Adobe Acrobat, along with 3 other products in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

An issue was discovered in Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 2017.012.20098 and earlier versions, 2017.011.30066 and earlier versions, 2015.006.30355 and earlier versions, and 11.0.22 and earlier versions. This vulnerability is an instance of a use after free vulnerability in the JavaScript engine. The mismatch between an old and a new object can provide an attacker with unintended memory access -- potentially leading to code corruption, control-flow hijack, or an information leak attack. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-416: Use After Free

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Affected products

  • Adobe Acrobat: up to and including 11.0.22; from 17.0 up to and including 17.011.30066
  • Adobe Acrobat Dc: from - up to and including 17.012.20098; from 15.0 up to and including 15.006.30355
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader: up to and including 11.0.22; from 17.0 up to and including 17.011.30066
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader Dc: from - up to and including 17.012.20098; from 15.0 up to and including 15.006.30355

References