Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-38243

Memory Safety in Adobe Acrobat 20.001.30005 – 20.005.30516.10516

Memory Safety
Published
10 August 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
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:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.026 84th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-38243 is a medium-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 16% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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 lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to bypass mitigations such as ASLR. Exploitation of this…

more

issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

CWE(s)
CWE-416

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-44372Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2025-43577Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2025-54257Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-41830Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-26424Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-26420Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-41869Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-34094Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-21608Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2024-34100Same 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)
  • 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
detects

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.

References