CVE-2009-4324

Exp

Use-after-free vulnerability in the Doc.media.newPlayer method in Multimedia.api in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.3, and 8.x before 8.2 on Windows and Mac OS X, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted PDF file using ZLib compressed streams, as exploited in the wild in December 2009.

Published: 2009-12-15 Last update: 2026-04-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-4324 is rated Critical Active Threat (91/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 92.87%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-06-08) affecting Adobe / Acrobat and Reader. a weakness (CWE-416) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2009-4324

Name: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Use-After-Free Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2022-06-08

Action due: 2022-06-22

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2009-4324

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
16623 exploit_db edb 2010-09-25 Exploit-DB ↗
16503 exploit_db edb 2010-04-30 Exploit-DB ↗
10618 exploit_db edb 2009-12-23 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2009-4324

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-12 93.01% 92.87% -0.15%
2 2025-10-21 92.89% 93.01% +0.12%
3 2025-08-06 — 92.89% —

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-4324

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2009-4324

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-4324

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2009-4324: 1 GLSA(s) (201009-05), 1 atom(s) (app-text/acroread); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2009-4324
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-4324
ubuntu low CVE-2009-4324 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (acroread), 6 status rows across 6 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, upstream): released 4, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-4324

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-4324

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
adobe acrobat >= 8.0, < 8.2 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat >= 9.0, < 9.3 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader >= 8.0, < 8.2 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader >= 9.0, < 9.3 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 cpe:2.3:a:suse:linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 11.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 11.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:10.0:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:10.0:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-4324

URL Tags
http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/12/new_adobe_reader_and_acrobat_v.html Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://contagiodump.blogspot.com/2009/12/virustotal-httpwww.html Exploit Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-01/msg00009.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://osvdb.org/60980 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/37690 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/38138 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/38215 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-07.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-02.html Not Applicable
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/508357 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.metasploit.com/redmine/projects/framework/repository/revisions/7881/entry/modules/exploits/windows/fileformat/adobe_media_newplayer.rb Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0060.html Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37331 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/Calendar/20091214 Broken Link
http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/zero-day-xmas-present Broken Link
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA10-013A.html Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/3518 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0103 Broken Link
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=547799 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/54747 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6795 Broken Link
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2009-4324 US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence