CVE-2018-16024 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2019.008.20081 and earlier, 2019.008.20080 and earlier, 2019.008.20081 and earlier, 2017.011.30106 and earlier version, 2017.011.30105 and earlier version, 2015.006.30457 and earlier, and 2015.006.30456 and earlier have an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to information disclosure.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/04/2024
This vulnerability resides in Adobe Acrobat and Reader software across multiple version lines, specifically affecting releases up to and including 2019.008.20081, 2017.011.30106, 2015.006.30457, and their respective predecessors. The flaw manifests as an out-of-bounds read condition that occurs when processing specially crafted PDF files, representing a critical security weakness that can be exploited by attackers to extract sensitive information from system memory. This type of vulnerability typically arises when software attempts to access memory locations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries, potentially exposing confidential data including user credentials, system information, or other sensitive content stored in adjacent memory regions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves improper bounds checking within the PDF parsing routines of Adobe's document processing engine. When a maliciously constructed PDF document is opened, the application fails to validate array indices or buffer limits before accessing memory locations, allowing an attacker to trigger memory access violations that can be manipulated to disclose information. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of array indices, and represents a classic example of how insufficient input validation can lead to information disclosure attacks. The out-of-bounds read behavior can be leveraged to extract data from memory locations adjacent to the intended buffer, potentially revealing stack contents, heap data, or other sensitive information that could aid in further exploitation attempts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can serve as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can potentially gather system information, user data, or application state details that may reveal patterns useful for privilege escalation or additional exploitation techniques. The vulnerability affects users across multiple Adobe Reader versions, making it particularly concerning from a security management perspective as organizations must ensure all affected installations are updated. This type of information disclosure vulnerability can be particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Adobe Reader is commonly used for document processing, as it may expose sensitive corporate data or personal information contained in PDF files.
Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of all affected Adobe Reader installations to mitigate this vulnerability, as the exploitation requires no special privileges and can be executed through standard PDF document opening. The recommended mitigation strategy involves updating to the latest versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader where this vulnerability has been addressed through proper bounds checking and memory access validation. Security teams should also implement monitoring for suspicious PDF file handling activities and consider network-based intrusion detection systems that can identify attempts to exploit this specific vulnerability. Additionally, implementing least-privilege principles for PDF processing and restricting user access to potentially malicious documents can help reduce the attack surface, while regular security assessments should verify that all Adobe installations remain current with security patches to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future.