Threats / Adobe / CVE-2014-0546
CVE-2014-0546
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Reader and Acrobat vulnerability
Adobe Reader and Acrobat on Windows contain a sandbox bypass vulnerability allowing attackers to execute native code with elevated privileges.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
This vulnerability enables privilege escalation through sandbox evasion in Adobe's document readers on Windows systems. Exploitation allows arbitrary native code execution in a privileged context, bypassing security isolation mechanisms.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-05-254EPSS 0.2233 (verify live)5CVSS 8.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
3 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 2022-05-25).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.2233 — 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.
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 2843 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.
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 designed to trigger the sandbox bypass vulnerability in Adobe Reader or Acrobat.
Business
Users face risk of arbitrary code execution when opening untrusted PDF files, compromising endpoint security.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the malicious PDF via email or web download to target users running vulnerable Adobe Reader or Acrobat versions on Windows.
Business
Attack surface expands across user populations relying on PDF readers for business document handling.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I exploit the sandbox bypass to execute native code with elevated privileges on the victim's Windows system.
Business
Attackers gain privileged code execution enabling data theft, malware installation, lateral movement, and system compromise.
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