ZeroDay Findings
Sign inSign up

Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2023-21608

Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Published Jan 18, 2023 · catalog updated Jun 16, 2026 · Adobe Acrobat and Reader

Patch now

CVE-2023-21608 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due Oct 31, 2023. Confirm Adobe Acrobat and Reader against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Gaps on this record

  • No version range is stored. A customer cannot check an installed version against this record.
Severity
High7.8
Known exploitation
CISA KEV and VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
59.58%
Remediation
Remediation guidance
Affected products
cpe adobe/acrobat · cpe adobe/acrobat dc · cpe adobe/acrobat reader · cpe adobe/acrobat reader dc · vendor Adobe Acrobat and Reader

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.

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • cpe adobe/acrobatversion unspecified
  • cpe adobe/acrobat dcversion unspecified
  • cpe adobe/acrobat readerversion unspecified
  • cpe adobe/acrobat reader dcversion unspecified
  • vendor Adobe Acrobat and Readerversion unspecified

How to fix CVE-2023-21608

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

CVE-2023-21608 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due Oct 31, 2023. Confirm Adobe Acrobat and Reader against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Which versions are affected?

Affected version ranges are not on this record. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

What should an analyst verify?

CWE-416: Use After Free. EPSS 59.58%. The CISA KEV listing is the exploitation evidence. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

No public source repository is identified for this product.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. Jan 18, 2023 · Catalog

    Detected

    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.

  2. Oct 10, 2023 · CISA KEV

    Known exploited

    Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

  3. Oct 31, 2023 · CISA KEV

    Remediation due

    Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

  4. Jun 16, 2026 · Catalog

    Updated

    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.

Sources

  • CISA KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-2023-21608

    Adobe Acrobat and Reader contains a use-after-free vulnerability that allows for code execution in the context of the current user.

    cisa.gov
  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2023-21608

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2023-21608

    30-day exploitation probability 59.6%

    first.org
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2023-21608

    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

    nvd.nist.gov
  • VulnCheck KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-2023-21608

    Adobe Acrobat and Reader contains a use-after-free vulnerability that allows for code execution in the context of the current user.

    vulncheck.com

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 17, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.