Cyber Resilience

CVE-2013-3346

Memory Safety in Adobe Acrobat 9.0 – 9.5.5

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
30 August 2013
Modified
21 April 2026
KEV Added
03 March 2022
Patch / advisory
View 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 0.79 99.5th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2013-3346 is a critical-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) 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 0.5% 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.

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 contain a memory corruption vulnerability tracked as CVE-2013-3346 and assigned CWE-787. The flaw permits arbitrary code execution or denial of service through unspecified vectors and is distinct from the numerous other memory-safety issues addressed in the same Adobe release cycle. Its CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 reflects network-accessible attack complexity that requires no authentication or user interaction.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can supply a crafted PDF document that triggers the flaw when opened in the affected reader or editor, resulting in out-of-bounds memory writes that may be leveraged for code execution under the context of the current user or for application crashes.

Adobe Security Bulletin APSB13-15, referenced by the supplied OVAL definitions, resolves the issue by updating installations to the fixed versions listed above; organizations are advised to apply those patches promptly and to restrict opening of untrusted PDF files until remediation is complete. No public details on observed in-the-wild exploitation appear in the provided references.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.5.5, 10.x before 10.1.7, and 11.x before 11.0.03 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-2718, CVE-2013-2719, CVE-2013-2720, CVE-2013-2721, CVE-2013-2722,…

more

CVE-2013-2723, CVE-2013-2725, CVE-2013-2726, CVE-2013-2731, CVE-2013-2732, CVE-2013-2734, CVE-2013-2735, CVE-2013-2736, CVE-2013-3337, CVE-2013-3338, CVE-2013-3339, CVE-2013-3340, and CVE-2013-3341.

CWE(s)
CWE-787
KEV Date Added
03 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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2009-1862Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2008-2992Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2010-2883Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2011-2462Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2023-26369Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2021-21017Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2009-3953Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2010-1297Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2013-0640Same product: Adobe Acrobatboth on KEV
CVE-2025-24450Same vendor: Adobe

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

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

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-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References