Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This CVE is a memory-safety flaw in SWFTools’ PDF handling code. A specially crafted local file could crash the conversion process, causing denial of service. The supplied data does not show data theft, privilege escalation, or confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted availability risk for document-processing services, not an enterprise-wide emergency. Prioritize systems that accept customer, partner, or internet-sourced PDFs and run SWFTools automatically.
Technical view
CVE-2022-35093 is a CWE-787 global buffer overflow in DCTStream::transformDataUnit in /xpdf/Stream.cc, reported against SWFTools commit 772e55a2. CVSS 3.1 is 5.5: local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, user interaction required, unchanged scope, and high availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where SWFTools or pdf2swf processes user-supplied or untrusted PDFs, especially in automated document conversion workflows. The affected vendor/product metadata is incomplete in the source bundle, so confirm actual deployments rather than assuming broad exposure.
Exploitation context
The bundle references public issue and PoC material, but KEV is false and no cited source confirms active exploitation. The CVSS vector requires local access and user interaction, suggesting risk is mainly denial of service through malicious document processing.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE metadata and linked GitHub/PoC references. The source bundle names the vulnerable function and file, but does not provide a fixed version, patch commit, affected release range, or evidence of exploitation in the wild.
Mitigation direction
- Check SWFTools maintainer guidance and the linked issue for an official fix.
- Avoid processing untrusted PDFs with affected SWFTools builds.
- Sandbox SWFTools/pdf2swf jobs with least privilege and resource limits.
- Isolate or disable exposed document conversion workflows until risk is resolved.
- Consider maintained alternatives if no supported fix is available.
Validation and detection
- Inventory systems, containers, and build artifacts for SWFTools or pdf2swf usage.
- Confirm whether builds include commit 772e55a2 or the vulnerable code path.
- Identify workflows that process externally supplied PDF files.
- Review conversion service crash logs for unexplained availability failures.
- Track remediation status against the linked CVE and GitHub references.
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-787: 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-2022-35093 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:N/I:N/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.
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:N/I:N/A:H1.83.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/matthiaskramm/swftools/issues/182CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/Cvjark/Poc/blob/main/swftools/pdf2swf/CVE-2022-35093.mdCVE reference · 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 Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.