CVE-2010-2883

Exp

Stack-based buffer overflow in CoolType.dll in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.4, and 8.x before 8.2.5 on Windows and Mac OS X, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via a PDF document with a long field in a Smart INdependent Glyphlets (SING) table in a TTF font, as exploited in the wild in September 2010. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.

Published: 2010-09-09 Last update: 2026-04-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2010-2883 is rated Critical Active Threat (88.7/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 92.76%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-06-08) affecting Adobe / Acrobat and Reader. a weakness (CWE-787) 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-2010-2883

Name: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Stack-Based Buffer Overflow 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-2010-2883

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
16619 exploit_db edb 2010-09-25 Exploit-DB ↗
16494 exploit_db edb 2010-09-20 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2010-2883

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 2026-05-28 93.19% 92.76% -0.44%
2 2026-04-01 93.45% 93.19% -0.25%
3 2026-03-21 — 93.45% —

Full EPSS history (30 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2010-2883

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.3 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 1.3 5.9 [email protected]
7.3 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 1.3 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-2010-2883

OS Trackers for CVE-2010-2883

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2010-2883: 1 GLSA(s) (201101-08), 1 atom(s) (app-text/acroread); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2010-2883
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2010-2883

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2010-2883

Impact: Per: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-02.html 'Affected software versions Adobe Reader 9.3.4 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, and Adobe Acrobat 9.3.4 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh.'

Solution: Per: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-02.html 'Adobe is in the process of evaluating the schedule for an update to resolve this vulnerability.'

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2010-2883

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
adobe acrobat >= 8.0, < 8.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat >= 9.0, < 9.4 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader >= 8.0, < 8.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe acrobat_reader >= 9.0, < 9.4 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:acrobat_reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2010-2883

URL Tags
http://blog.metasploit.com/2010/09/return-of-unpublished-adobe.html Broken Link
http://community.websense.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/09/10/brief-analysis-on-adobe-reader-sing-table-parsing-vulnerability-cve-2010-2883.aspx Broken Link
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-10/msg00001.html Broken Link
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-10/msg00006.html Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/41340 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/43025 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201101-08.xml Third Party Advisory
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-02.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-21.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/491991 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0743.html Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/43057 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.turbolinux.co.jp/security/2011/TLSA-2011-2j.txt Broken Link
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA10-279A.html Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/2331 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0191 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0344 Broken Link Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/61635 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A11586 Broken Link
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2010-2883 US Government Resource
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