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.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-46529 is rated Moderate Risk (44.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.13%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 2026-06-11 | — | 0.13% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.4 | 4.0 | HIGH |
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— | — | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2026-46529 unimportant priority: Debian including 4 source packages (atril, evince, evince-gtk3, papers), 15 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 11, open 4. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46529 |
redhat
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high | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46529 |
suse
|
high | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46529/ |
ubuntu
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medium | CVE-2026-46529 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (atril, evince, evince-gtk3, papers), 25 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 12, released 8, DNE 5. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-46529 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| No affected products in dataset. | |||