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CVE-2016-4263· NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Digital Editions before 4.5.2 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.0—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Sep 16, 2016
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
5.8% · 93th percentile
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Action score

41

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
2 / 30 · 5.8%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
adobedigital editions

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • adobe digital editionsup to 4.5.1 inclusive

Same product

adobe: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2016-0954Adobe Digital Editions before 4.5.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecif
    44Plan
  • CVE-2019-7095Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.10.185749 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2018-12814Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.8 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2018-12813Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.8 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2017-11274Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.4 and earlier has an exploitable use after free vulnerability.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2017-3092Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.4 and earlier contain an insecure library loading vulnerability.
    42Plan

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

c
free(dev->buf);/* ... another thread is still running ... */process(dev->buf);

Fixed

c
lock(&dev->lock);free(dev->buf);dev->buf = NULL;unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records