CVE-2025-54257VulnerabilityPublished 9 Sep 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-54257: Adobe Acrobat Reader · Use After Free

Affects Adobe Acrobat ReaderSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 25% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 9 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Adobe Acrobat Reader	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-54257, organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Monitor Adobe's official channels for patches and apply updates immediately once available, as no patches are currently listed but are expected. 2) Employ application whitelisting to restrict execution of unauthorized code and limit the impact of exploitation. 3) Configure email gateways and endpoint security solutions to detect and block malicious PDF files, leveraging advanced threat protection and sandboxing technologies. 4) Educate users about the risks of opening unsolicited or suspicious PDF attachments, emphasizing cautious handling of email content. 5) Use PDF readers with enhanced security features or sandboxing capabilities as an interim measure. 6) Implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement if a system is compromised. 7) Regularly back up critical data and verify backup integrity to recover from potential ransomware or destructive attacks stemming from exploitation. 8) Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to identify anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on user education, proactive detection, and containment strategies specific to PDF-based attack vectors.

Description

Acrobat Reader versions 24.001.30254, 20.005.30774, 25.001.20672 and earlier are affected by a Use After Free vulnerability that could result in 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, and scope is unchanged.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2025-54257 is substantial for organizations worldwide that use Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a common PDF reader in both enterprise and consumer environments. Exploitation can lead to arbitrary code execution, allowing attackers to run malicious code with the same privileges as the user, potentially leading to data breaches, installation of malware, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement within a network. Since the vulnerability requires user interaction, phishing campaigns or malicious document distribution are likely attack vectors. The compromise of user systems can result in loss of confidentiality of sensitive documents, integrity violations through unauthorized modifications, and availability issues if systems are disrupted or taken offline. Organizations with high reliance on PDF workflows, such as legal, financial, healthcare, and government sectors, face increased risk. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not preclude future exploitation, especially as threat actors develop weaponized payloads. The vulnerability's presence across multiple versions increases the attack surface, affecting a broad user base.

CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 03:36 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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