CVE-2023-44371
Published: 16 November 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-44371 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 19.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.006.20360 and earlier, along with versions 20.005.30524 and earlier, contain a Use After Free vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-44371 and CWE-416. The flaw can be triggered when the application processes specially crafted input, leading to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
An attacker can exploit the issue by supplying a malicious file that the victim must open, making successful abuse dependent on user interaction. With a CVSS score of 7.8 reflecting local access, low attack complexity, and no privileges required, successful exploitation grants full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on the affected system.
Adobe’s advisory APSB23-54 addresses the vulnerability and directs users to apply the vendor-supplied updates that remediate the use-after-free condition in the listed Acrobat Reader releases.
The EPSS score for this CVE rose sharply from a low baseline to a peak of 0.5359 on 2025-01-22 before receding to the current value of 0.0141, indicating a clear post-disclosure increase in observed exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-48725
Vulnerability details
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.006.20360 (and earlier) and 20.005.30524 (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.