Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A malicious document opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC could make Reader read memory beyond its intended boundary. That may expose information useful for bypassing defenses such as ASLR. The issue requires a user to open a crafted file, and the bundle does not show active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a timely patching item, not an emergency. The business risk is user-driven document exposure that may help an attacker defeat memory protections during a broader attack chain.
Technical view
CVE-2022-28258 is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in Acrobat Reader DC parsing of crafted files. CVSS 3.1 is 5.5 with local attack vector, no privileges, required user interaction, high confidentiality impact, and no integrity or availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is mainly desktop or virtual desktop systems running affected Acrobat Reader DC versions 22.001.2011x and earlier, 20.005.3033x and earlier, or 17.012.3022x and earlier, especially where users open external PDFs.
Exploitation context
The source bundle says exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious file. It could support information disclosure and mitigation bypass, but KEV is false and no cited source here confirms active exploitation.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports an out-of-bounds read with confidentiality impact and possible ASLR bypass. The bundle does not provide exploit details, proof of active exploitation, or complete fixed-version data, so remediation should follow Adobe APSB22-16.
Mitigation direction
- Review Adobe APSB22-16 for the applicable Acrobat Reader update.
- Prioritize updating systems that open external or email-delivered PDFs.
- Restrict automatic opening of downloaded or email-attached PDF files.
- Use endpoint controls to reduce exposure to untrusted document content.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Acrobat Reader versions across managed endpoints.
- Compare installed versions against the affected version ranges in the CVE bundle.
- Confirm Adobe update deployment through endpoint management or software inventory.
- Review mail and endpoint alerts for suspicious crafted PDF delivery attempts.
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-125: 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 lookupCVE-2022-28258 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
- 5.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N1.83.6adobeVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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.
Out-of-bounds Read
Out-of-bounds Read represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.