Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue affects older Adobe Acrobat Reader versions. A lower-privileged local user could abuse how the uninstaller searches for components, but only if a victim runs the uninstaller with administrator rights. The business risk is mainly endpoint privilege escalation during software removal or maintenance, not remote internet-facing compromise based on the supplied evidence.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate endpoint hardening priority. It is not evidenced as actively exploited, but the impact is high if abused during privileged uninstall workflows. Patch through normal endpoint update cycles, with faster handling for administrator-managed workstations and shared systems.
Technical view
CVE-2022-28247 is described as a CWE-427 uncontrolled search path issue in Acrobat Reader DC and older release tracks. The CVSS vector is local, high complexity, low privileges required, and user interaction required. Successful exploitation could provide high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact through local privilege escalation.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to systems running affected Acrobat Reader versions: 22.001.2011x and earlier, 20.005.3033x and earlier, or 17.012.3022x and earlier. The practical risk is highest on managed endpoints where users or administrators perform Reader uninstalls with elevated rights.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires local access or low privileges plus a victim running the uninstaller as administrator, which reduces likelihood but raises impact if successful.
Researcher notes
The supplied title mentions remote code execution, but the CVE description and CVSS vector describe local privilege escalation requiring user interaction. Do not classify this as remotely exploitable from the provided evidence. Affected product and version details are sparse beyond the listed Reader tracks.
Mitigation direction
- Review Adobe APSB22-16 and apply the listed Acrobat Reader security update for your release track.
- Prioritize endpoints where Acrobat Reader is installed and administrative uninstall activity is common.
- Restrict who can run uninstallers with administrator privileges on managed endpoints.
- Use software management tooling to remove or update vulnerable Reader versions centrally.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Acrobat Reader versions across endpoints and compare them with the affected version ranges.
- Confirm patched versions align with Adobe APSB22-16 for each deployed release track.
- Review endpoint logs for elevated Acrobat Reader uninstaller executions during the exposure window.
- Verify privilege management policies limit administrator-context uninstall activity.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-427: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-28247 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.7 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H0.85.9adobeVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb22-16.htmlCVE reference, adobe · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Uncontrolled Search Path Element
Uncontrolled Search Path Element represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.