Threats / Adobe / CVE-2020-9715
CVE-2020-9715
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Acrobat vulnerability
Adobe Acrobat contains a use-after-free vulnerability enabling remote code execution. The flaw has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A use-after-free defect in Adobe Acrobat permits attackers to execute arbitrary code by crafting malicious documents. Active exploitation in the wild elevates risk for users opening untrusted PDF files.
CISA KEV Yes · 2026-04-134EPSS 0.48441 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
1 independent public report 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 2026-04-13).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.48441 — 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. 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-416 Use After Free — 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 2063 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 that triggers a use-after-free condition in Acrobat's memory management.
Business
End users face code execution risk when opening email attachments or downloaded documents from untrusted sources.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the malicious PDF via email or web download to compromise the target's system with arbitrary code execution.
Business
Organizations experience data theft, lateral movement, or system compromise through compromised user endpoints.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence or escalate privileges on the compromised system to maintain access and expand the attack footprint.
Business
Incident response costs, forensic investigation, and potential regulatory notification obligations increase operational expenses.
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