CVE-2023-38222
Published: 10 August 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-38222 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 7.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 and earlier, along with versions 20.005.30467 and earlier, contain a Use After Free vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-38222. The flaw is classified under CWE-416 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8, reflecting local access with low attack complexity but requiring user interaction.
An attacker can exploit the issue by supplying a specially crafted PDF file that, once opened by the victim, triggers the use-after-free condition and yields arbitrary code execution under the privileges of the current user. No elevated privileges or remote network access are needed beyond delivery of the malicious document.
The official Adobe advisory APSB23-30, published alongside the CVE, directs users to apply the vendor-supplied updates that remediate the vulnerability in both the 2023 and 2020 release tracks.
EPSS for the CVE rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.3023 on 2025-01-22 before receding to its current value of 0.0866, indicating a clear post-disclosure increase in observed exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-42042
Vulnerability details
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (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…
more
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.