Description
Stack consumption vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3, 9.1.2, 9.1.1, and earlier 9.x versions; 8.1.6 and earlier 8.x versions; and possibly 7.1.4 and earlier 7.x versions allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a PDF file with a large number of [ (open square bracket) characters in the argument to the alert method. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 5 | acroread +1 | 8.1.7-1.el5 | RHSA-2009:1499 |
| RHEL 4 | acroread +1 | 8.1.7-1.el4 | RHSA-2009:1499 |
| RHEL 3 | acroread +1 | 8.1.7-1 | RHSA-2009:1499 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Exploit-DB 1
- Adobe Acrobat 9.1.3 - Stack Exhaustion Denial of Service EDB-33017 · dos · May 29, 2009 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2009:1499 Red Hat Security Advisory: acroread security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 29, 2026
References
- TA09-286B third-party-advisory
- 1023007 vdb-entry
- http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-15.html
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:6532 vdb-entry signature
- ADV-2009-2898 vdb-entry
- 35148 vdb-entry