CVE-2020-8845: foxit phantompdf Use After Free

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2020-8845 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in foxit phantompdf. EPSS estimates a 19.46% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 97.3% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 13-02-2020
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 04-08-2024
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

This vulnerability allows remote atackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Foxit PhantomPDF 9.6.0.25114. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the handling of watermarks in AcroForms. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-9358.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.