CVE-2023-21586 | Acrobat Reader | NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)

Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 22.003.20282 (and earlier), 22.003.20281 (and earlier) and 20.005.30418 (and earlier) are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve an application denial-of-service in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

Published: 2024-12-18 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-21586 is rated Moderate Risk (50.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.05%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-21586

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 1.31% 2.05% +0.74%
2 2026-01-31 1.71% 1.31% -0.40%
3 2026-01-30 — 1.71% —

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-21586

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-21586

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-21586

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
adobe acrobat_dc >= 15.008.20082, <= 22.003.20282 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_dc:*:*:*:*:continuous:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader_dc >= 15.008.20082, <= 22.003.20282 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader_dc:*:*:*:*:continuous:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_dc >= 15.008.20082, <= 22.003.20281 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_dc:*:*:*:*:continuous:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader_dc >= 15.008.20082, <= 22.003.20281 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader_dc:*:*:*:*:continuous:*:*:*
adobe acrobat >= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30418 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat:*:*:*:*:classic:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader >= 20.001.30005, <= 20.005.30418 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader:*:*:*:*:classic:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-21586

cvelogic Threat Intelligence