CVE-2021-21017

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Published 11 Feb 2021 · updated 17 Jun 2026 · Analyzed

8.8 High · CVSS 3.1, adobe.com

Exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 3 Nov 2021, with a remediation deadline of 17 Nov 2021 for US federal agencies.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

Acrobat Reader DC versions versions 2020.013.20074 (and earlier), 2020.001.30018 (and earlier) and 2017.011.30188 (and earlier) are affected by a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb21-09.html · Vendor Advisory
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-21017 · Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource