CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2023-33240 — Foxit Pdf Editor security vulnerability
Foxit PDF Reader (12.1.1.15289 and earlier) and Foxit PDF Editor (12.1.1.15289 and all previous 12.x versions, 11.2.5.53785 and all previous 11.x versions, and 10.1.11.37866 and earlier) on Windows allows Local Privilege Escalation when installed to a non-default directory because unprivileged users have access to an executable file of a system service. This is fixed in 12.1.2.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Published
- 2023-05-19
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- windows/system
- Weaknesses
- CWE-276
Affected products
- foxit / pdf_editor
- foxit / pdf_reader
Showing 2 representative product identities from 4 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.
Matched remediation archetype
Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
- Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
- Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.
Remediate safely
- Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
- Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
- Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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