Cyber Resilience

CVE-2013-2729

Memory Safety in Adobe Acrobat 9.0 – 9.5.5

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
16 May 2013
Modified
22 April 2026
KEV Added
28 March 2022
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.67 99.2th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2013-2729 is a critical-severity Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190) vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 0.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

An integer overflow vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2013-2729 and assigned CWE-190, affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.x prior to 9.5.5, 10.x prior to 10.1.7, and 11.x prior to 11.0.03. The flaw permits arbitrary code execution through unspecified vectors and is distinct from the related issue CVE-2013-2727. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network attack vectors that require no authentication or user interaction.

Remote attackers can exploit the condition to execute arbitrary code on affected systems, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The high severity stems from the ability to trigger the overflow without local access or elevated privileges, enabling direct impact on any exposed installation that processes malicious input.

Adobe security bulletin APSB13-15 and corresponding vendor advisories, including Red Hat RHSA-2013-0826, openSUSE and Gentoo updates, and OVAL definitions, address mitigation through application of the listed patches that update the affected Reader and Acrobat releases to the fixed versions. Organizations are advised to apply these updates promptly to eliminate the vulnerable code paths.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Integer overflow in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.5.5, 10.x before 10.1.7, and 11.x before 11.0.03 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-2727.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
28 March 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2015-8651Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV
CVE-2018-6065Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV
CVE-2013-0641Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2013-0640Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2012-5054Same vendor: Adobeboth on KEV
CVE-2018-14634Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV
CVE-2015-5119Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV
CVE-2016-1010Same vendor: Adobeboth on KEV
CVE-2014-0497Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV
CVE-2012-2034Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktopboth on KEV

Affected Assets

adobe
acrobat
9.0 — 9.5.5 · 10.0 — 10.1.7 · 11.0 — 11.0.03
adobe
acrobat reader
9.0 — 9.5.5 · 10.0 — 10.1.7 · 11.0 — 11.0.03
suse
linux enterprise desktop
10, 11
redhat
enterprise linux desktop
6.0
redhat
enterprise linux eus
5.9, 6.4
redhat
enterprise linux server
6.0
redhat
enterprise linux server aus
5.9, 6.4
redhat
enterprise linux workstation
6.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.6

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require use of safe arithmetic, bounds checks, and testing that prevent integer overflows.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development can detect integer overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and arithmetic checks that prevent integer overflows.

degrades

Application security requirements include bounds checking and safe arithmetic to avoid overflow conditions.

degrades

Secure architecture principles require defensive coding patterns that mitigate integer wraparound risks.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe integer operations and mandate overflow-safe constructs.

References