High

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Annotation Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution

IdentifiersCVE-2026-27220CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2026-27220 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC/Acrobat Reader affecting versions 24.001.30307, 24.001.30308, 25.001.21265 and earlier. The flaw exists in the handling of Annotation objects, where the product fails to properly validate an object's continued existence before performing operations on it. This can lead to dereferencing freed memory and memory corruption. A remote attacker can trigger the condition by convincing a user to open a malicious file or visit a malicious page, potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user/process.

For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user and current process. Depending on the victim's privileges, this may allow full compromise of the affected Reader session, execution of attacker-controlled payloads, access to user-accessible data, and follow-on activity such as persistence or lateral movement from the compromised host.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by preventing users from opening untrusted PDF files or visiting untrusted pages that may invoke Acrobat Reader content, enforcing attachment and download filtering, and limiting execution context through least-privilege user accounts and application control. Enterprise controls such as disabling automatic opening of PDF content from browsers/email workflows and isolating document handling can further reduce risk. Specific vendor mitigation guidance beyond patching is not available in the provided content.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply Adobe's security update addressing CVE-2026-27220. The content indicates Adobe issued a fix and published remediation details in security bulletin APSB26-26. Upgrade affected Acrobat Reader installations beyond versions 24.001.30307, 24.001.30308, and 25.001.21265, or to the vendor-fixed release specified by Adobe in APSB26-26.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

AdobeAcrobatapplication

AdobeAcrobat Dcapplication

AdobeAcrobat Reader Dcapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

7 sources tracked across advisories and community write-ups. News coverage will land here when it surfaces.

7 SOURCESView more in app

No news coverage yet. Advisories and community discussion only.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures1

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity5

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2026-27220

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-27220

MITRE CWE · CWE-416

Use After Free

Vendor Advisory

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb26-26.html