CVE-2021-21040
Acrobat Reader DC Use-After-Free Vulnerability Could Lead To Arbitrary Code Execution
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- adobe
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 Use After Free 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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By adobe
- 55 days later
· 55 days later
Published
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| adobeCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 3.2% · top 12% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected unspecified – ≤ 2020.013.20074
- affected unspecified – ≤ 2020.001.30018
- affected unspecified – ≤ 2017.011.30188
- affected unspecified – ≤ None
References (1)
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb21-09.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2021-21040)Record last updated .