Exploited CVE from 2014, added in 2022

CVE-2014-0496

Adobe Acrobat / Reader · Office, PDF and utilities

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Use-After-Free Vulnerability

At a glance

Exploited. Added to CISA’s catalog of exploited vulnerabilities on March 3, 2022.

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-2014-0496 on the NVD website.

Original text of the required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Timeline

January 15, 2014 Vulnerability published Publication date (NVD)
March 3, 2022 Exploitation confirmed Added to CISA’s KEV catalog
March 24, 2022 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: No known use to date That does not guarantee it is not being used: the information is not public. 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: January 15, 2014 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:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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

8.8 / 10 CVSS severity: high

Score from the vendor or CISA, relayed by the NVD. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

— Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS)

FIRST’s EPSS model. Since exploitation is already confirmed, this figure is mostly useful to compare activity. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

Description

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.x before 10.1.9 and 11.x before 11.0.06 on Windows and Mac OS X allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

Adobe Reader and Acrobat contain a use-after-free vulnerability which can allow for code execution.

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).