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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 24 Mar 2022.
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2013-0641

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.5.4 / 10.1.6 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild No privileges

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
Buffer overflow in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.5.4, 10.x before 10.1.6, and 11.x before 11.0.02 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted PDF document, as exploited in the wild in February 2013.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat allows remote code execution via crafted PDF documents. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild as a 0-day, indicating reliable exploitation capability.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 9.5.4 or later (9.x), 10.1.6 or later (10.x), or 11.0.02 or later (11.x). Alternatively, migrate to current supported versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

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
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 5.9= 6.4
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 5.9= 6.4
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 9.0, < 9.5.4>= 10.0, < 10.1.6>= 11.0, < 11.0.02
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:>= 10.0, < 10.1.6>= 11.0, < 11.0.02>= 9.0, < 9.5.4
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.4= 12.1

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Check if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed
    On Windows: Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Adobe Acrobat' or 'Adobe Reader'. On Linux: Run 'rpm -qa | grep -i adobe' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i adobe'
    Affected if Either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader is present on the system
  2. Determine the installed Adobe product version
    On Windows: Right-click the application in Programs and Features and select Properties, or launch the application and go to Help > About. On Linux: Run 'rpm -qi <package-name>' or check the version in the package name
    Affected if The installed version can be identified from the product
  3. Compare the version against affected ranges for Adobe Acrobat
    Check if the Acrobat version falls within: 9.0 to 9.5.3 (inclusive), 10.0 to 10.1.5 (inclusive), or 11.0 to 11.0.01 (inclusive)
    Affected if Acrobat version is 9.0 <= version < 9.5.4 OR 10.0 <= version < 10.1.6 OR 11.0 <= version < 11.0.02
  4. Compare the version against affected ranges for Adobe Reader
    Check if the Reader version falls within: 9.0 to 9.5.3 (inclusive), 10.0 to 10.1.5 (inclusive), or 11.0 to 11.0.01 (inclusive)
    Affected if Reader version is 9.0 <= version < 9.5.4 OR 10.0 <= version < 10.1.6 OR 11.0 <= version < 11.0.02
  5. Check if running on affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    Run 'cat /etc/redhat-release' to identify the RHEL version. Affected versions are: 5.9, 6.0, 6.4 for Desktop, Server, Workstation, EUS, and AUS variants
    Affected if The system runs RHEL 5.9, 6.0, or 6.4 with Adobe products installed
  6. Check if running on affected openSUSE
    Run 'cat /etc/SuSE-release' or 'lsb_release -a' to identify the openSUSE version. Affected versions are 11.4 and 12.1
    Affected if The system runs openSUSE 11.4 or 12.1 with Adobe products installed

The environment is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed with a version within 9.0 to less than 9.5.4, 10.0 to less than 10.1.6, or 11.0 to less than 11.0.02, or if running RHEL 5.9/6.0/6.4 or openSUSE 11.4/12.1 with vulnerable Adobe packages.

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 9.5.4 / 10.1.6 / 11.0.02 or later
Fixed in 9.5.410.1.611.0.02
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 9.5.4 or later (9.x), 10.1.6 or later (10.x), or 11.0.02 or later (11.x). Alternatively, migrate to current supported versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Reader/Acrobat 9.5.4+, 10.1.6+, or 11.0.02+ depending on your major version branch

  1. 1. Identify the current Adobe Reader or Acrobat version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Reader/Acrobat
  2. 2. Navigate to Adobe's official security bulletin page or download center to obtain the fixed version
  3. 3. For Adobe Reader/Acrobat 9.x: upgrade to version 9.5.4 or later
  4. 4. For Adobe Reader/Acrobat 10.x: upgrade to version 10.1.6 or later
  5. 5. For Adobe Reader/Acrobat 11.x: upgrade to version 11.0.02 or later
  6. 6. Download the appropriate installer for your platform (Windows, Mac, or Linux)
  7. 7. Close all Adobe applications before running the installer
  8. 8. Run the installer with administrator privileges and follow the on-screen prompts
Caveat Security updates typically have minimal breaking changes; however, older PDF forms or scripts may behave differently in updated versions; test critical workflows after upgrading

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2013-0641 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