CVE-2023-38226
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ZDI-CAN-21240: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Font Parsing Uninitialized Variable Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
rank 27 = 1 + 20 + 0 + 6 + 0
rank@v1 · scheduled
Someone is already using it
CISA KEV catalog · public proof-of-concept · FIRST EPSS
EPSS 0.02766 · without this subject the record ranks 26
What it costs you if it fires
NVD CVSS base score, then the CNA's own
CVSS 7.8, from NVD · without this subject the record ranks 7
It is getting worse, not staying still
FIRST EPSS series, rescorings and bad loads removed
no persisting rise in 365 days · without this subject the record ranks 27
How much of the world it touches
NVD CPE configurations
6 products in the CPE ranges · without this subject the record ranks 21
Someone else already set the date
CISA KEV remediation due date
no CISA due date · without this subject the record ranks 27
$138,000 = $4.99M incident cost x 1 exposure x 0.02766 likelihood
udv@v1 · unaudited · wrong for you until you say what you run
$4.99M is the cost of a breach that happened, from IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, global average. It is not the value of any asset of yours. That average already covers breaches of every severity, so scaling it by exposure understates a partial-impact record. That is an assumption, not a measurement. Your own asset value goes in the decision record.
Hindsight · the state
Foresight · where to check next
This record is one instance of CWE-824, access of uninitialized pointer. The index holds 297 prior instances of this class, 2 KEV-listed. The nearest of its KEV-listed records are drawn beside this. taxonomy@v1
Running Adobe Acrobat Reader? Check your version
A deterministic range check against the ranges this record publishes. It tells you where a version sits in the record, not whether your deployment is exploitable. No account needed.
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Matches your own product list against every record this index holds, and tells you when one of them moves.
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Record your call
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Harm, if it fires from the vector and the weakness
Written for the ticket you're about to file.
CISA KEV & Federal Remediation Deadline from the record and CISA
The fix, and how long it's been waiting.
Exploit Status & Known PoCs a ladder, not a score
Current rung: Nothing observed in held sources.
- RUNG 1Nothing observed in held sources
- RUNG 2Proof-of-concept published
- RUNG 3Exploited in the wild · CISA KEV listed
- RUNG 4Ransomware campaign use known
Affected & Fixed Versions as published
Show all 6 published ranges
A rung lights from a row in the index, never from an assessment. "Held sources" is the true scope of the claim: this index reads the CVE record, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST's EPSS and public proof-of-concept repositories, and it does not observe attacks.
Attack path
What it is stated by the CNA
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an Access of Uninitialized Pointer 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. receipt
NVD's analysis a second authority
- severity
- 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- weakness
- CWE-824
- affected versions
- adobe acrobat dc >= 15.008.20082 < 23.003.20269; adobe acrobat reader dc >= 15.008.20082 < 23.003.20269; adobe acrobat >= 20.001.30005 <= 20.005.30516.10516; and 3 more, listed in full below
- also scored by
- [email protected] 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
check it yourself helpx.adobe.com receipt
Movement the material steps
This score more than doubled inside 72 hours. Both observations are in the full history below.
Show all 46 observations
46 observations held. A highlighted step crossed a promotion threshold. A step marked with a scoring model moved because the instrument was replaced, not because the vulnerability changed. receipt
The full biography
Exploit probability more than doubled between 2023-08-15 and 2023-08-16 (0.0006 → 0.00783) and the record had been public for 3 years when this index was last written.
The pattern, elsewhere
This record is one instance of CWE-824, access of uninitialized pointer. The index holds 297 prior instances of this class, 2 KEV-listed. The nearest of its KEV-listed records are drawn beside this. [email protected]
"Matches n of m" counts the attributes the two records can both be compared on: the CVSS metrics they share a version of, any weakness class beyond this one, and the vendor. fit-rules@v1
297 records in this class held. The six above are drawn from the ones CISA has listed as exploited, ranked by how much of the record matches this one. That is why every one of them is KEV-listed: the pool is, so the colour on those spokes says nothing the pool has not already said.
No curated product neighbourhood is held for this product, so the records above are the nearest this index can name. The neighbourhood table covers a small set of products and is extended by hand.
Siblings and hubs
Records related to this one
No record cites this identifier and it carries no alias. Its defect family is below.
Its defect family
adobe acrobat reader
Of the 11 records in this family, this is the only one whose title names zdi-can-21240.
Grouped by shared product and weakness, not by shared vulnerability. Each record's own state is on its own page.
Family membership: computed, pro@dim2000
This record is one of a group, and the group's page describes all of them. This page is kept and dated, and the advisory's own page is the one we offer for indexing: the whole group.
Announced with 29 others
This record was published as one of 30 that cite a single advisory. The batch page names that advisory, counts what the group offers, and says what it does not cover.
Listed for shared announcement, not shared vulnerability. Each record here is its own finding with its own page, and fixing one does not address another.
Browse the index from here
These are index-wide views, not findings about CVE-2023-38226.
What usually comes next
Everything above needs no account. What is below is work: assembling it, scoping it to your estate, watching it, and handing it to someone else.