Security Resilience

CVE-2023-40471

Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools 9.5.368.0

Published
03 May 2024
Modified
19 May 2025
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 0.0039 32th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-40471 is a high-severity Untrusted Pointer Dereference (CWE-822) vulnerability in Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 32th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

PDF-XChange Editor App Untrusted Pointer Dereference Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of PDF-XChange Editor. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a…

more

malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the handling of App objects. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of a user-supplied value prior to dereferencing it as a pointer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-20729.

CWE(s)
CWE-822NVD-CWE-Other

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016.001 Internet Connection Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may check for Internet connectivity on compromised systems.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-27342Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2023-39501Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2023-40472Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2024-8821Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2025-6640Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2024-8816Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2023-42082Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2025-6645Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2025-6646Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools
CVE-2025-6661Same product: Pdf-Xchange Pdf-Tools

Affected Assets

pdf-xchange
pdf-tools
9.5.368.0
pdf-xchange
pdf-xchange editor
9.5.368.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover instances where untrusted data is turned into a pointer and dereferenced.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Validating all information inputs stops untrusted values from being accepted and converted into dereferenceable pointers.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the damage from an invalid pointer dereference without stopping the root coding flaw.

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.

DE.CM-09 partial match
blocks

Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect adverse events resulting from exploitation of the weakness.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes can discover instances of this weakness via code review or scanning.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of untrusted pointer handling during development.

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References