CVE-2025-27162: Adobe Acrobat RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-27162 Overview

CVE-2025-27162 is an Access of Uninitialized Pointer vulnerability affecting Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader products. This memory corruption flaw could allow an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. The vulnerability requires user interaction—specifically, a victim must be tricked into opening a maliciously crafted PDF file.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation enables arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the current user, potentially allowing attackers to install programs, view/change/delete data, or create new accounts with full user rights.

Affected Products

• Adobe Acrobat versions 24.001.30225 and earlier (Classic and Continuous tracks)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 20.005.30748 and earlier
• Adobe Acrobat Reader DC versions 25.001.20428 and earlier
• Affected on both Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS platforms

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-03-11 - CVE-2025-27162 published to NVD
• 2025-04-28 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-27162

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-824 (Access of Uninitialized Pointer), a memory corruption vulnerability category where the application attempts to access or use a pointer that has not been properly initialized to a valid memory location. In the context of Adobe Acrobat products, this type of flaw typically occurs during the parsing or rendering of specially crafted PDF content.

When a malicious PDF document is opened, the vulnerable code path may reference a pointer before it has been assigned a valid memory address. This uninitialized pointer could contain garbage data, potentially pointing to arbitrary memory locations. An attacker who controls the PDF content can manipulate heap or stack states to influence where this uninitialized pointer references, ultimately redirecting program execution to attacker-controlled code.

The vulnerability requires local access, meaning an attacker must convince a user to open a malicious file. This is commonly achieved through phishing emails with PDF attachments, compromised websites hosting malicious documents, or social engineering tactics.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-27162 stems from improper initialization handling within Adobe Acrobat's PDF processing engine. During document parsing, a pointer variable is declared but not initialized to a safe default value (such as NULL) before being dereferenced. When specific malformed PDF structures trigger the vulnerable code path, the application attempts to access memory through this uninitialized pointer, leading to undefined behavior that can be weaponized for code execution.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability follows a typical client-side exploitation pattern. An attacker crafts a malicious PDF document containing specially structured content designed to trigger the uninitialized pointer access. The attack scenario typically unfolds as follows:

1. The attacker creates a malicious PDF file exploiting the uninitialized pointer vulnerability
2. The victim receives the file via email attachment, download link, or other delivery mechanism
3. Upon opening the PDF in a vulnerable version of Adobe Acrobat or Reader, the malicious content triggers the vulnerability
4. The uninitialized pointer is dereferenced, allowing the attacker to redirect execution flow
5. Arbitrary code executes with the privileges of the user running the application

Since no verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available, technical details regarding the specific exploitation methodology are limited to the general characteristics described in the advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-27162

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual crash patterns in AcroRd32.exe or Acrobat.exe processes indicating memory corruption
• PDF files with malformed or unusual internal structures being opened from untrusted sources
• Unexpected child processes spawned by Adobe Acrobat or Reader applications
• Anomalous memory access patterns or heap spray indicators in process memory

Detection Strategies

• Deploy endpoint detection rules to monitor Adobe Acrobat processes for suspicious behavior such as shellcode execution or unexpected child process creation
• Implement file inspection at email gateways and web proxies to analyze PDF documents for malformed structures
• Enable Windows Defender Exploit Guard or similar mitigations to detect memory corruption attempts
• Configure SentinelOne to monitor for exploitation indicators associated with document-based attacks

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor for Adobe Acrobat/Reader processes making unusual network connections post-launch
• Track process ancestry to identify if legitimate Adobe processes spawn suspicious child processes
• Enable verbose logging for PDF-related activities in enterprise environments
• Review endpoint telemetry for signs of heap manipulation or memory corruption attacks

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-27162

Immediate Actions Required

• Update all Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader installations to the latest patched versions immediately
• Educate users about the risks of opening PDF documents from untrusted or unknown sources
• Consider enabling Protected View mode in Adobe Acrobat to sandbox document rendering
• Temporarily restrict PDF opening capabilities if patching is not immediately possible

Patch Information

Adobe has released security updates addressing this vulnerability. The official security bulletin is available at the Adobe Acrobat Security Advisory (APSB25-14). Organizations should prioritize updating to the following minimum versions:

• Adobe Acrobat DC (Continuous): Update to versions newer than 25.001.20428
• Adobe Acrobat 2024 (Classic): Update to versions newer than 24.001.30225
• Adobe Acrobat 2020 (Classic): Update to versions newer than 20.005.30748

Workarounds

• Enable Protected View for all files from untrusted sources in Adobe Acrobat preferences
• Use alternative PDF readers for viewing untrusted documents until patching is complete
• Implement application whitelisting to control which applications can open PDF files
• Deploy Microsoft Attack Surface Reduction rules to mitigate document-based exploitation techniques

# Verify Adobe Acrobat version on Windows via PowerShell
Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\Installer" | Select-Object -Property DisplayVersion

# Check for Adobe Acrobat processes with unusual child processes
Get-CimInstance Win32_Process | Where-Object { $_.ParentProcessId -in (Get-Process -Name "Acrobat","AcroRd32" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Id }