Incorrect Authorization in Acrobat Reader Leading 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 Incorrect Authorization vulnerability that could result in privilege escalation. A low-privileged attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain elevated access. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction. Scope is changed.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-08

Last Modified

2026-09-10

Generated

2026-09-29

AI Q&A

2026-09-10

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-27

NVD

CVE-2026-81996

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
adobe	acrobat	From 24.0.0 (inc) to 24.001.30429 (exc)
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)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-863	The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This is an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability in Acrobat Reader that allows privilege escalation. A low-privileged attacker could exploit it to gain higher access without user interaction.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to gain elevated privileges on your system, potentially accessing sensitive data or performing unauthorized actions. No user interaction is needed for exploitation.

Mitigation Strategies

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to the latest version to patch the Incorrect Authorization vulnerability. Disable unnecessary privileges for users and restrict access to sensitive files. Monitor system logs for unusual privilege escalation attempts.

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