Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022. Known ransomware use
AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2010-0188

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2010-02-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.2.1 / 9.3.1 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x before 8.2.1 and 9.x before 9.3.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x before 8.2.1 and 9.x before 9.3.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 8.2.1 or later (for 8.x) or 9.3.1 or later (for 9.x) to remediate this vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 8.0, < 8.2.1>= 9.0, < 9.3.1
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 8.0, < 8.2.1>= 9.0, < 9.3.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed
    Check Program Files for Adobe Acrobat (acrobat.exe) or Adobe Reader (acrord32.exe or AcroRd32.exe), or look in Windows Add/Remove Programs
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader is present on the system
  2. Locate the executable version information
    Right-click the Adobe executable in Program Files, select Properties, and view the Details tab for the Product Version; or launch the application and go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader
    Affected if The application can be launched and its version read
  3. Compare the installed version against affected ranges
    Match the product version to the vulnerable ranges: 8.0.0 to 8.2.0 (any 8.x version below 8.2.1) or 9.0.0 to 9.3.0 (any 9.x version below 9.3.1)
    Affected if Installed version is 8.x where x is less than 2.1, or 9.x where x is less than 3.1
  4. Confirm the exact version number
    Read the full version string (for example, 9.0.0, 8.1.2, or 9.2.0) from the Properties Details tab or About dialog
    Affected if Version is less than 8.2.1 for 8.x branch or less than 9.3.1 for 9.x branch

The system is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed with a version between 8.0 and 8.2.1 (exclusive) or between 9.0 and 9.3.1 (exclusive).

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 8.2.1 / 9.3.1 or later
Fixed in 8.2.19.3.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 8.2.1 or later (for 8.x) or 9.3.1 or later (for 9.x) to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat/Reader 8.2.1 or higher, or 9.3.1 or higher

  1. 1. Determine the currently installed Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader
  2. 2. If version is 8.x (8.0 through 8.2.0), download and install Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 8.2.1 or later from the Adobe website
  3. 3. If version is 9.x (9.0 through 9.3.0), download and install Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 9.3.1 or later from the Adobe website
  4. 4. Verify the installation completed successfully by checking the version again
  5. 5. Ensure the software auto-update feature is enabled to receive future security patches
Caveat Adobe updates typically have minimal breaking changes but may drop support for older operating systems; verify compatibility with your OS before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Acrobat Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get it fixed fast

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-0188 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-0188 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data