CVE-2023-26369 — Acrobat
HIGHCVE-2023-26369 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in adobe acrobat. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-09-14) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20284 (and earlier), 20.005.30516 (and earlier) and 20.005.30514 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could result…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-09-14. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2023-10-05.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2023-26369.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-26369 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20284 (and earlier), 20.005.30516 (and earlier) and 20.005.30514 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
Affected Products
acrobatadobeacrobat dcadobeacrobat readeradobeacrobat reader dcadobeResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every adobe acrobat deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Fix
Apply the adobe acrobat security patch or hotfix for CVE-2023-26369 on the affected version, following the vendor advisory for your exact build.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-26369 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.