CVE-2010-0188
Adobe Acrobat / Reader · Office, PDF and utilities
Adobe Reader and Acrobat Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability
At a glance
Exploited. Added to CISA’s catalog of exploited vulnerabilities on March 3, 2022.
Used in ransomware attacks, according to CISA.
Affected product: Adobe Acrobat / Reader (category Office, PDF and utilities, indicative classification). Name in CISA’s catalog: Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
What should I do?
Apply the security update from Adobe.
Deadline set by CISA for US federal agencies: 21 days (due March 24, 2022). It only binds those agencies, but it is a useful measure of urgency.
- Adobe security advisories page (general page, not the advisory for this vulnerability)
- The vendor’s specific advisory is listed in the NVD references: CVE-2010-0188 on the NVD website.
Original text of the required action (CISA)
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Timeline
- Vulnerability published Publication date (NVD)
- Exploitation confirmed Added to CISA’s KEV catalog
- CISA deadline Remediation deadline set for US federal agencies
The facts, with their sources
- Exploitation confirmed
- Yes, on March 3, 2022 Date added to the catalog of exploited vulnerabilities. Exploitation itself may have started earlier. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- Ransomware
- Known use Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- Hunt for compromise
- Not requested by CISA Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- CISA required action
- Apply the security update from Adobe. Rewritten by this site from CISA’s original text. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- CISA deadline
- March 24, 2022, 21 days Set for US federal agencies: a measure of urgency, not an obligation elsewhere. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- Vulnerability published
- February 22, 2010 Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC
- Product according to CISA
- Adobe Reader and Acrobat Filed by this site under “Office, PDF and utilities” (indicative classification). Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Technical detail of the score: attack vector, complexity, impact. Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC
Severity and activity
FIRST’s EPSS model. Since exploitation is already confirmed, this figure is mostly useful to compare activity. Collected Sep 29, 2026.
Description
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.
Official description from the NVD, collected Sep 29, 2026. CVE® description © The MITRE Corporation.
Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat allows attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.
Summary from CISA (KEV catalog).
CERT-FR advisories
No advisory among the latest CERT-FR publications this site follows. That does not mean there are none.
Information reused under the Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab); the date of last update is shown for each advisory. This site is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by ANSSI.
Sources for this page
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, required action, deadline, ransomware.
- NVD (NIST): CVSS severity, publication date, description, vendor references.
- EPSS (FIRST): probability of exploitation.
- CERT-FR: advisories and alerts (in French).
- Brand and category: indicative classification by this site (method).