Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2018-4879: Adobe Acrobat: Code execution

CVE-2018-4879 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Adobe Acrobat, along with 2 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 Reader 2018.009.20050 and earlier versions, 2017.011.30070 and earlier versions, 2015.006.30394 and earlier versions. The vulnerability is caused by the computation that writes data past the end of the intended buffer; the computation is part of the image conversion module that processes Enhanced Metafile Format Plus (EMF+) data. An attacker can potentially leverage the vulnerability to corrupt sensitive data or execute arbitrary code.

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-787: Out-of-bounds Write

The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Affected products

  • Adobe Acrobat: from 17.0 up to and including 17.011.30070
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader: from 17.0 up to and including 17.011.30070
  • Adobe Acrobat Dc: from - up to and including 18.009.20050; from 15.0 up to and including 15.006.30394
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader Dc: from - up to and including 18.009.20050; from 15.0 up to and including 15.006.30394

References