Untrusted Search Path in Acrobat Reader Leads to Privilege Escalation

Publication date: 2026-09-08

Last updated on: 2026-09-10

Assigner: Adobe Systems Incorporated

Description

Acrobat Reader is affected by an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability that could result in privilege escalation. An attacker with high privileges could leverage this vulnerability to gain elevated access. Exploit depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-08

Last Modified

2026-09-10

Generated

2026-09-29

AI Q&A

2026-09-09

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-27

NVD

CVE-2026-80159

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
adobe	acrobat_dc	From 15.008.20082 (inc) to 26.002.21901 (exc)
adobe	acrobat_reader_dc	From 15.008.20082 (inc) to 26.002.21901 (exc)
adobe	acrobat	From 24.001.20604 (inc) to 24.001.30429 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-426	The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This is an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in Acrobat Reader that could allow privilege escalation. An attacker with high privileges might exploit it to gain elevated access, but exploitation depends on conditions outside their control and requires user interaction, such as opening a malicious file.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to gain higher privileges on your system, potentially leading to unauthorized access or control. However, exploitation requires specific conditions and user interaction, such as opening a malicious file.

Mitigation Strategies

Update Acrobat Reader to the latest version to patch the Untrusted Search Path vulnerability. Restrict user privileges to minimize potential impact. Avoid opening untrusted files or documents from unknown sources.

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