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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 22 Jun 2022.
AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2011-2462

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2011-12-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges 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 the U3D component in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.1.1 and earlier on Windows and Mac OS X, and Adobe Reader 9.x through 9.4.6 on UNIX, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unknown vectors, as exploited in the wild in December 2011.

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 · high confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in the U3D (Universal 3D) parsing component of Adobe Reader and Acrobat allows remote code execution via specially crafted PDF files containing malicious 3D content. Exploited in the wild as a zero-day.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Reader/Acrobat to patched versions beyond 10.1.1 (Windows/Mac) and 9.4.6 (UNIX). Disable JavaScript in Adobe settings and avoid opening untrusted PDF files as additional defense.

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:<= 10.1.1
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:<= 10.1.1>= 9.0, <= 9.4.6

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify installed Adobe product
    Check if Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat is installed by looking for the application in Program Files (Windows) or /Applications (Mac), or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe for product entries
    Affected if Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat is installed
  2. Check installed version
    Run 'acrord32.exe -v' (Reader) or 'acrobat.exe -v' (Acrobat) from the command line, or check the version in the application's About dialog
    Affected if Version is 10.1.1 or earlier for Acrobat, or 10.1.1/9.4.6 or earlier for Reader (specifically 9.0 to 9.4.6)
  3. Verify U3D parsing is enabled
    Check the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\[version]\FeatureLockdown or check application preferences for 3D rendering settings - look for bEnableU3D or similar flags set to 1 (enabled)
    Affected if U3D/3D rendering is enabled in the application settings
  4. Check for U3D content handling capability
    Open a PDF file using the application and check if 3D content renders, or inspect PDF objects using a tool like pdfid to search for /U3D or /3D stream objects
    Affected if The application can process and render U3D/3D content within PDF files

You are affected if Adobe Reader or Acrobat is installed with a version within the 9.0-10.1.1 range AND U3D/3D rendering functionality is enabled, allowing the application to parse U3D content from PDF files.

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 a release after 10.1.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Reader/Acrobat to patched versions beyond 10.1.1 (Windows/Mac) and 9.4.6 (UNIX). Disable JavaScript in Adobe settings and avoid opening untrusted PDF files as additional defense.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest available Adobe Reader/Acrobat (Adobe has released subsequent security updates beyond 10.1.1 and 9.4.6 that address this vulnerability)

  1. 1. Uninstall all currently installed versions of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader that are version 10.1.1 or earlier, or version 9.0 through 9.4.6
  2. 2. Navigate to the official Adobe download page at https://get.adobe.com/reader/ to obtain the latest version
  3. 3. Download the latest Adobe Reader (or Adobe Acrobat if applicable) for your operating system
  4. 4. Install the downloaded software following the on-screen prompts
  5. 5. Verify the installation was successful by checking the installed version number

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

Fix this in Acrobat Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2011-2462 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