Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-54257

Memory Safety in Adobe Acrobat 24.0.0 – 24.001.30264

Memory Safety
Published
09 September 2025
Modified
03 November 2025
Patch / advisory
View 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 0.0033 26th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-54257 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 26th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SI-3 (Malicious Code Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Acrobat Reader versions 24.001.30254, 20.005.30774, 25.001.20672 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 in that a…

more

victim must open a malicious file, and scope is unchanged.

CWE(s)
CWE-416

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-44372Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2023-38243Same product: Adobe Acrobat
CVE-2025-43577Same 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
24.0.0 — 24.001.30264 · 20.001.30002 — 20.005.30793 · 20.001.30002 — 20.005.30791
adobe
acrobat dc
15.008.20082 — 25.001.20693
adobe
acrobat reader dc
15.008.20082 — 25.001.20693
adobe
acrobat reader
20.001.30002 — 20.005.30791 · 20.001.30002 — 20.005.30791

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-3 Malicious Code Protection
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
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

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly requires timely remediation of the Use-After-Free flaw in Acrobat Reader before a malicious file can be exploited.

SI-3 Malicious Code Protection good match
prevent

Blocks or quarantines the malicious PDF file that must be opened to trigger the vulnerability.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match
prevent

Employs memory-protection techniques (DEP, ASLR, etc.) that raise the difficulty of converting the Use-After-Free into arbitrary code execution.

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