# CVE-2020-24433: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Local Privilege Escalation via Installer Component

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM and execute arbitrary code via the installer component in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Nov 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5fm6-8c62-xw4m

## What is CVE-2020-24433?

CVE-2020-24433 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat, published on 5 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC versions 2020.012.20048 (and earlier), 2020.001.30005 (and earlier) and 2017.011.30175 (and earlier) are affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability that could enable a user without administrator privileges to delete arbitrary files and potentially execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM. Exploitation of this issue requires an attacker to socially engineer a victim, or the attacker must already have some access to the environment.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-24433?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Dc, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat Reader Dc.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-24433?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-24433 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-24433 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24433 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat

- [CVE-2021-28550](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28550/): Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-21017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21017/): Adobe Acrobat and Reader Heap-based Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-0546](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0546/): Adobe Reader and Acrobat Sandbox Bypass (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-0496](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0496/): Adobe Reader and Acrobat Use-After-Free (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-3346](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-3346/): Adobe Reader and Acrobat Memory Corruption (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-24433 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-24433 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat, published on 5 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24433 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe Acrobat. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24433/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24433/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-24433
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-24433
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-24433

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24433/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.