Cyber Resilience

CVE-2020-9715

Memory Safety in Adobe Acrobat Dc 15.006.30060 – 15.006.30523

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCMemory Safety
Published
19 August 2020
Modified
14 April 2026
KEV Added
13 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.48 99th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2020-9715 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Dc. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2020.009.20074 and earlier, 2020.001.30002, 2017.011.30171 and earlier, and 2015.006.30523 and earlier contain a use-after-free vulnerability tracked as CVE-2020-9715 and assigned CWE-416. The flaw received a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 and can result in arbitrary code execution when triggered.

Exploitation requires local access with no privileges but depends on user interaction to open a malicious document, after which an attacker can achieve high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability with unchanged scope.

Adobe published fixes for the issue in APSB20-48, while technical details and proof-of-concept analysis have been released by Exodus Intelligence and the Zero Day Initiative.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2020.009.20074 and earlier, 2020.001.30002, 2017.011.30171 and earlier, and 2015.006.30523 and earlier have an use-after-free vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution .

CWE(s)
CWE-416
KEV Date Added
13 April 2026

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2021-28550Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dcboth on KEV
CVE-2023-21608Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dcboth on KEV
CVE-2026-47924Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-27278Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47919Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47921Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47915Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47916Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47917Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc
CVE-2026-47918Same product: Adobe Acrobat Dc

Affected Assets

adobe
acrobat dc
20.001.30002 · 15.006.30060 — 15.006.30523 · 15.008.20082 — 20.009.20074 · 17.011.30059 — 17.011.30171
adobe
acrobat reader dc
20.001.30002 · 15.006.30060 — 15.006.30523 · 15.008.20082 — 20.009.20074 · 17.011.30059 — 17.011.30171

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-416

Use-after-free exploits that achieve arbitrary code execution are blocked or significantly hardened by non-executable pages and ASLR.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References