CVE-2021-44741 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC version 21.007.20099 and earlier, 20.004.30017 and earlier, and 17.011.30204 and earlier are affected by a Null pointer dereference vulnerability, potentially leading to application denial-of-service.

Understanding CVE-2021-44741

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is susceptible to a critical vulnerability that could allow an attacker to exploit a null pointer dereference issue, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.

What is CVE-2021-44741?

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC versions mentioned are affected by a null pointer dereference vulnerability, requiring user interaction to exploit and potentially leading to an application denial-of-service.

The Impact of CVE-2021-44741

The vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated attacker to cause denial-of-service on the application, affecting the current user's context by leveraging a specially crafted file.

Technical Details of CVE-2021-44741

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC's vulnerability has the following technical details:

Vulnerability Description

Type: Null pointer dereference (CWE-476)
Impact: Application denial-of-service
Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
User Interaction: Required

Affected Systems and Versions

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC versions:
21.007.20099 and earlier
20.004.30017 and earlier
17.011.30204 and earlier

Exploitation Mechanism

Exploitation requires the victim to open a malicious file, triggering the vulnerability in the parsing process.

Mitigation and Prevention

Mitigate the CVE-2021-44741 vulnerability by following these steps:

Immediate Steps to Take

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest version.
Avoid opening files from untrusted or unknown sources.
Educate users on safe file handling practices.

Long-Term Security Practices

Implement security awareness training for users.
Regularly monitor and update software applications.

Patching and Updates

Apply security patches provided by Adobe promptly to address this vulnerability.