Executive brief
Adobe Acrobat Reader, widely used for viewing and managing PDF documents in enterprises, contains a use-after-free vulnerability that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user opening a malicious PDF file. An attacker would need to trick a user into opening a specially crafted PDF document, after which the attacker gains full control of the affected system.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a use-after-free memory safety bug in Acrobat Reader's PDF parsing engine. When processing a malicious PDF file, the application attempts to use a memory object that has already been freed, allowing an attacker to overwrite adjacent memory and achieve arbitrary code execution. Exploitation requires user interaction—the victim must open the malicious PDF—but no prior authentication or special system configuration is needed. A successful exploit grants code execution in the context of the logged-in user, with potential for data theft, lateral movement, or ransomware deployment. Patch status and affected version details are not currently available from the provided advisory references.
Affected products
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
Timeline
- 2026-09-08: disclosed