CVE-2019-8041

published 2019-08-20

CVE-2019-8041: Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2019.012.20035 and earlier, 2019.012.20035 and earlier, 2017.011.30142 and earlier, 2017.011.30143 and earlier…

Priority P2 67 critical 9.8 CVSS 3.1

AV N AC L PR N UI N S U C H I H A H

EXPLOIT

Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2019.012.20035 and earlier, 2019.012.20035 and earlier, 2017.011.30142 and earlier, 2017.011.30143 and earlier, 2015.006.30497 and earlier, and 2015.006.30498 and earlier have a heap overflow vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution .

Affected

7 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
adobe	acrobat_dc	>= 15.006.30060 < 15.006.30499	15.006.30499
adobe	acrobat_dc	>= 15.008.20082 < 19.012.20036	19.012.20036
adobe	acrobat_dc	>= 17.011.30059 < 17.011.30144	17.011.30144
adobe	acrobat_reader_dc	>= 15.006.30060 < 15.006.30499	15.006.30499
adobe	acrobat_reader_dc	>= 15.008.20082 < 19.012.20036	19.012.20036
adobe	acrobat_reader_dc	>= 17.011.30059 < 17.011.30144	17.011.30144
adobe	adobe_acrobat_and_reader	—	—

Detection & IOCs extracted from sources · hover to see the quote

url https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb-bin-sploits/-/raw/main/bin-sploits/47275.zip↗

filename poc1.pdf↗

filename poc2.pdf↗

filename CoolType.dll↗

• → The vulnerability triggers immediately upon opening a malformed PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC; monitor for access violation exceptions (code c0000005) originating from CoolType!CTInit offsets, particularly a write AV at CoolType!CTInit+0x6eec7. ↗
• → Look for heap overflow crash signatures in CoolType.dll call stacks involving CTInit with deep recursion through font-processing offsets (e.g., +0x6e220, +0x6da38, +0x6d9af, +0x6d93c, +0x6d795) when AcroRd32 opens a PDF. ↗
• → Enable PageHeap (Application Verifier) on AcroRd32.exe to produce cleaner crash captures; the overflow is detectable via DPH_HEAP_BLOCK metadata showing a write beyond the allocated UserSize of 0x1c0 bytes. ↗
• → The PoC files are heavily mutated PDF documents (not simple bit-flips); sandbox or AV solutions should inspect PDF files that trigger deep CoolType font-parsing call stacks for out-of-bounds write conditions. ↗

• · Affected versions span multiple Adobe Acrobat/Reader tracks; ensure version checks cover all listed branches (2019.x ≤ 20035, 2017.x ≤ 30142/30143, 2015.x ≤ 30497/30498) when writing detection rules. ↗

CVSS provenance

nvd v3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd v2.0 7.5 HIGH AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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