Threats / Adobe / CVE-2011-2462
CVE-2011-2462
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Reader and Acrobat vulnerability
A memory corruption vulnerability in the U3D component of Adobe Reader and Acrobat allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service through malicious documents.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
This out-of-bounds write vulnerability enables code execution via crafted U3D content embedded in PDF files. Active exploitation in the wild combined with high EPSS score indicates significant real-world risk to users opening untrusted documents.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-06-084EPSS 0.86563 (verify live)5CVSS 8.8 (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
11 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 0.86563 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 8.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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-787 Out-of-bounds Write — weakness family: Memory safety.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 3836 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 containing a specially formatted U3D object that triggers an out-of-bounds write in Adobe's parser.
Business
Users who open the PDF experience arbitrary code execution under their privileges, potentially leading to data theft, malware installation, or lateral movement.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute the weaponized PDF through email, web downloads, or document-sharing platforms to reach target users.
Business
Organizations face compromised endpoints, intellectual property loss, and incident response costs when employees open seemingly legitimate documents.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence on compromised systems to maintain access for follow-on attacks or data exfiltration.
Business
Extended breach dwell time increases exposure window, regulatory liability, and total cost of remediation across affected user base.
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