Threats / Adobe / CVE-2010-0188
CVE-2010-0188
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Reader and Acrobat vulnerability
Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat allows remote code execution or denial of service through CWE-94 code injection. Actively exploited in the wild and associated with ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
Critical remote code execution vulnerability in widely deployed PDF software. High EPSS score and confirmed active exploitation indicate immediate threat to enterprise and consumer endpoints. Ransomware operators have weaponized this vulnerability.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-034Ransomware use Flagged4EPSS 0.88246 (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
12 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 2022-03-03), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.88246 — 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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Adobe, Reader and Acrobat. 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-94 Code Injection — weakness family: Injection.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 4393 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 malicious PDF document exploiting the code injection flaw to execute arbitrary commands when opened by the target.
Business
End users opening email attachments or downloading files from untrusted sources face immediate system compromise and data theft risk.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute the weaponized PDF through phishing campaigns or watering hole attacks to maximize infection across target organizations.
Business
Enterprise security teams face widespread endpoint infections, potential lateral movement, and ransomware deployment across the network.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use the code execution capability to deploy ransomware payloads that encrypt critical business files and demand payment.
Business
Organizations suffer operational disruption, data loss, financial extortion, and reputational damage from ransomware incidents.
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