CVE-2023-32616 — A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the way Foxit Reader 12

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the way Foxit Reader 12.1.2.15356 handles 3D annotations. A specially crafted Javascript code inside a malicious PDF document can trigger reuse of a previously freed object, which can lead to memory corruption and result in arbitrary code

01What is this vulnerability?

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the way Foxit Reader 12.1.2.15356 handles 3D annotations. A specially crafted Javascript code inside a malicious PDF document can trigger reuse of a previously freed object, which can lead to memory corruption and result in arbitrary code execution. An attacker needs to trick the user into opening the malicious file to trigger this vulnerability…

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
Foxit	Foxit Reader	12.1.3.15356

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2023-11-27T15:25:09.602Z
• Last modified: 2025-11-04T19:16:21.332Z

09References

• talosintelligence.com — https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2023-1837