CVE-2021-45061: Adobe Security Bulletin

Security update available for Adobe Acrobat and Reader | APSB22-01

Bulletin ID

Date Published

Priority

APSB22-01

January 11, 2022

2

Summary

Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Acrobat and Reader for Windows and macOS. These updates address  multiple critical, important and moderate vulnerabilities. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution, memory leak, application denial of service, security feature bypass and privilege escalation.

Affected Versions

Product

Track

Affected Versions

Platform

Acrobat DC

Continuous

21.007.20099 and earlier versions

Windows

Acrobat Reader DC

Continuous

21.007.20099 and earlier versions

Windows

Acrobat DC

Continuous

21.007.20099 and earlier versions

macOS

Acrobat Reader DC

Continuous

21.007.20099 and earlier versions

macOS

Acrobat 2020

Classic 2020

20.004.30017 and earlier versions

Windows & macOS

Acrobat Reader 2020

Classic 2020

20.004.30017 and earlier versions

Windows & macOS

Acrobat 2017

Classic 2017

17.011.30204  and earlier versions

Windows & macOS

Acrobat Reader 2017

Classic 2017

17.011.30204  and earlier versions

Windows & macOS

For questions regarding Acrobat DC, please visit the Acrobat DC FAQ page.

Solution

Adobe recommends users update their software installations to the latest versions by following the instructions below.

The latest product versions are available to end users via one of the following methods:

• Users can update their product installations manually by choosing Help > Check for Updates.

• The products will update automatically, without requiring user intervention, when updates are detected.

• The full Acrobat Reader installer can be downloaded from the Acrobat Reader Download Center.

For IT administrators (managed environments):

• Refer to the specific release note version for links to installers.

• Install updates via your preferred methodology, such as AIP-GPO, bootstrapper, SCUP/SCCM (Windows), or on macOS, Apple Remote Desktop and SSH.

Adobe categorizes these updates with the following priority ratings and recommends users update their installation to the newest version:

Product

Track

Updated Versions

Platform

Priority Rating

Availability

Acrobat DC

Continuous

21.011.20039

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Acrobat Reader DC

Continuous

21.011.20039

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Acrobat 2020

Classic 2020

20.004.30020

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Acrobat Reader 2020

Classic 2020

20.004.30020

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Acrobat 2017

Classic 2017

17.011.30207

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Acrobat Reader 2017

Classic 2017

17.011.30207

Windows and macOS

2

Release Notes

Vulnerability Details

Vulnerability Category

Vulnerability Impact

Severity

CVSS base score

CVSS vector

CVE Number

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44701

Information Exposure (CWE-200)

Privilege escalation

Moderate

3.1

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-44702

Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44703

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44704

Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44705

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44706

Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44707

Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44708

Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44709

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44710

Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-44711

Improper Input Validation (CWE-20)

Application denial-of-service

Important

4.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L

CVE-2021-44712

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Application denial-of-service

Important

5.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVE-2021-44713

Violation of Secure Design Principles (CWE-657)

Security feature bypass

Moderate

2.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-44714

Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125)

Memory Leak

Moderate

3.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-44715

Information Exposure (CWE-200)

Privilege escalation

Moderate

3.1

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-44739

NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)

Application denial-of-service

Moderate

3.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVE-2021-44740

NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)

Application denial-of-service

Moderate

3.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVE-2021-44741

Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125)

Memory Leak

Moderate

3.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-44742

Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-45060

Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-45061

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-45062

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Privilege escalation

Moderate

3.3

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-45063

Use After Free (CWE-416)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-45064

Access of Memory Location After End of Buffer (CWE-788)

Memory Leak

Important

5.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CVE-2021-45067

Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)

Arbitrary code execution

Critical

7.8

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2021-45068

Acknowledgements

Adobe would like to thank the following for reporting these issues and for working with Adobe to help protect our customers:

• Ashfaq Ansari and Krishnakant Patil - HackSys Inc working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2021-44701)

• j00sean (j00sean) (CVE-2021-44702, CVE-2021-44739)

• Kai Lu of Zscaler’s ThreatLabz (CVE-2021-44703, CVE-2021-44708, CVE-2021-44709, CVE-2021-44740, CVE-2021-44741)

• PangU via TianfuCup (CVE-2021-44704)

• StakLeader via TianfuCup (CVE-2021-44705)

• bee13oy of Kunlun Lab via TianfuCup (CVE-2021-44706)

• Vulnerability Research Institute Juvenile Via TianfuCup (CVE-2021-44707)

• Jaewon Min and Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos (CVE-2021-44710, CVE-2021-44711)

• Sanjeev Das (sd001) (CVE-2021-44712)

• Rocco Calvi (TecR0c) and Steven Seeley of Qihoo 360 (CVE-2021-44713, CVE-2021-44715)

• chamal (chamal) (CVE-2021-44714)

• fr0zenrain of Baidu Security (fr0zenrain) (CVE-2021-44742)

• Anonymous working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2021-45060, CVE-2021-45061, CVE-2021-45062, CVE-2021-45063; CVE-2021-45068, CVE-2021-45064)

• Ashfaq Ansari (ashfaqansari) (CVE-2021-45067)

Revisions:

January 12, 2022: Updated acknowledgement for CVE-2021-44706

January 13, 2022: Updated acknowledgement for CVE-2021-45064, Updated CVE details for CVE-2021-44702 and CVE-2021-44739

January 17, 2022: Updated acknowledgement for CVE-2021-44706

For more information, visit https://helpx.adobe.com/security.html, or email [email protected].