Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-29320

Adobe Acrobat 20.001.30005 – 20.005.30516.10516

Published
10 August 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / 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 0.054 92th percentile
Risk Priority 64 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-29320 is a high-severity Violation of Secure Design Principles (CWE-657) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an Violation of Secure Design Principles vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user by bypassing the API blacklisting…

more

feature. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-54255Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-38231Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-44338Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-38244Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-41834Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-22242Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-29299Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-26406Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2021-28560Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-20733Same product: Adobe Acrobat

Affected Assets

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 · 20.001.30005 — 20.005.30514.10514
adobe
acrobat reader
20.001.30005 — 20.005.30516.10516 · 20.001.30005 — 20.005.30514.10514

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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.

addresses: CWE-657

Establishing and updating awareness policy promotes adherence to secure design principles through ongoing training, preventing related violations.

addresses: CWE-657

Mandating the policy be consistent with laws, standards, and guidelines enforces secure design principles in security governance and oversight.

addresses: CWE-657

Deficiencies violating secure design principles are tracked and corrected through planned actions, limiting attacker opportunities from design flaws.

addresses: CWE-657

Documenting, disseminating, and periodically reviewing maintenance policies and procedures enforces core secure design principles for system maintenance activities.

addresses: CWE-657

Documented policy with defined scope, roles, responsibilities, and periodic review directly enforces secure design principles and management commitment.

addresses: CWE-657

Baseline selection enforces adherence to established secure-design principles rather than ad-hoc or insufficient control choices.

addresses: CWE-657

Requires risk determinations for architecture/design decisions, tailoring rationale, and alignment with enterprise architecture to avoid violations of secure design principles.

addresses: CWE-657

Regular SSP updates force review of whether the system's evolving design continues to follow documented secure design principles after changes.

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

Directly mandates integration of secure development practices including design principles across the SDLC.

GV.PO-01 partial match
prevents

Establishes risk-management policy that can embed secure design expectations at the organizational level.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Explicitly requires incorporating least privilege, one key secure design principle.

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.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles are the explicit embodiment of the secure design principles violated by CWE-657.

degrades

A secure development life cycle directly requires adherence to established secure design principles.

finds

Security testing can detect violations of secure design principles before release.

prevents

Embedding security in project management helps enforce secure design principles from the outset.

degrades

Secure coding practices help realize secure design principles at implementation time.

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).

Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260559 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-657
Ubuntu 24.04 (1 rule)
  • V-270748 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-657
Windows Server 2016 (2 rules)
  • V-224992 Domain Controller PKI certificates must be issued by the DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657
  • V-224993 PKI certificates associated with user accounts must be issued by the DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657
Windows Server 2019 (2 rules)
  • V-205646 Windows Server 2019 domain Controller PKI certificates must be issued by the DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657
  • V-205647 Windows Server 2019 PKI certificates associated with user accounts must be issued by a DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657
Windows Server 2022 (2 rules)
  • V-254413 Windows Server 2022 domain Controller PKI certificates must be issued by the DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657
  • V-254414 Windows Server 2022 PKI certificates associated with user accounts must be issued by a DoD PKI or an approved External Certificate Authority (ECA). prevents CWE-657

References