Threats / Adobe / CVE-2009-4324
CVE-2009-4324
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Acrobat and Reader vulnerability
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader enables remote code execution through malicious PDF files.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A use-after-free flaw in Adobe's PDF readers allows attackers to execute arbitrary code by crafting malicious PDF documents. The vulnerability has been exploited in the wild with high EPSS severity.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-06-084EPSS 0.81806 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3Exploit Weaponized · public exploit · Metasploit module11
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
10 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-06-08).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.81806 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Adobe, Acrobat and Reader. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-399 Resource Management Errors — weakness family: Resource / availability.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 4558 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a PDF file that triggers a use-after-free condition in the PDF parser.
Business
End users receive seemingly legitimate PDF documents that appear safe to open.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute the malicious PDF via email, web download, or document sharing platforms.
Business
Organizations cannot reliably distinguish malicious PDFs from legitimate business documents.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
When the victim opens the PDF in Acrobat or Reader, the use-after-free is triggered and I gain code execution.
Business
Attackers achieve arbitrary code execution on systems running vulnerable Adobe software.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I establish persistence and move laterally within the victim's network.
Business
Compromised endpoints become entry points for broader network compromise and data theft.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05