CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-38563 — An issue was discovered in Foxit PDF Reader before 11.0.1 and PDF Editor before 11.0.1

Critical CVSS 9.8

An issue was discovered in Foxit PDF Reader before 11.0.1 and PDF Editor before 11.0.1. It mishandles situations in which an array size (derived from a /Size entry) is smaller than the maximum indirect object number, and thus there is an attempted incorrect array access (leading to a NULL pointer dereference, or out-of-bounds read or write).

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-08-11
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-129

Affected products

  • foxit / pdf_reader
  • foxitsoftware / pdf_editor

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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