CVE-2022-28838
Published: 11 May 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-28838 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 7.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Pro DC versions 22.001.2011x and earlier, 20.005.3033x and earlier, and 17.012.3022x and earlier contain a use-after-free flaw (CWE-416) that can be triggered to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 and affects the PDF-handling components of these desktop applications on supported operating systems.
An attacker can exploit the vulnerability only by supplying a specially crafted PDF file that the victim must open locally; no remote code execution or elevated privileges are possible without that user interaction. Successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to run arbitrary code with the same rights as the logged-in user.
The official Adobe security advisory APSB22-16, available at https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb22-16.html, details the affected releases and the corresponding patched versions that resolve the flaw.
The associated EPSS score has remained near 0.08 with only a minor peak of 0.0830 and does not indicate a material post-disclosure increase in exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-33275
Vulnerability details
Acrobat Acrobat Pro DC version 22.001.2011x (and earlier), 20.005.3033x (and earlier) and 17.012.3022x (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…
more
user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
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.
Use-after-free exploits that achieve arbitrary code execution are blocked or significantly hardened by non-executable pages and ASLR.