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Use-After-Free in Adobe Acrobat and Reader (CVE-2019-8038)

IdentifiersCVE-2019-8038CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2019-8038 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader affecting versions 2019.012.20035 and earlier, 2017.011.30142 and earlier, and 2015.006.30497 and earlier. The vulnerability arises from improper management of memory objects, where a pointer is used after the underlying memory has been freed. This flaw can be triggered by a specially crafted PDF file, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the user running the application.

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For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system, potentially leading to full compromise of the affected machine. The attacker would typically need to convince a user to open a malicious PDF document.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, mitigate risk by disabling JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, and avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources. Employ endpoint security solutions capable of detecting exploitation attempts against PDF readers.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Acrobat and Reader as provided by Adobe, which addresses this use-after-free vulnerability. Adobe has released security updates that resolve this issue in supported product versions.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
AdobeAcrobat Dcapplication
AdobeAcrobat Reader Dcapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

1 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

1 SOURCESView more in app
What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES
MITRE CVE
cve.org · CVE-2019-8038
NVD
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-8038
MITRE CWE · CWE-416
Use After Free
Patch
helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb19-41.html
Use-After-Free in Adobe Acrobat and Reader (CVE-2019-8038) (CVE-2019-8038) | Mallory