CVE-2008-2549: Adobe Acrobat Reader malformed PDF crash and possible code execution

Automated analysis

Generated by VULONE's analysis model from the NVD record, CISA KEV and EPSS data on 20 September 2026. Confidence: medium.

medium priorityCVSS 2.0 rates this MEDIUM (4.3) with only partial impact, but high EPSS and a public exploit raise concern for unpatched, legacy Reader installations.

What it is

Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1.2 and earlier, and versions before 7.1.1, mishandle a malformed PDF document, causing an application crash and possibly allowing arbitrary code execution. The flaw is remotely reachable and matters because PDFs are a routine, trusted file type, so a crafted document can be delivered through normal channels.

Impact

An attacker can crash the Reader application and, per the description, possibly execute arbitrary code in the context of the user running Acrobat Reader.

Attack surface

Reached remotely by delivering a malformed PDF (demonstrated as 2008-HI2.pdf) to a victim; the CVSS vector AV:N/AC:M/Au:N indicates no authentication is required, but some user action such as opening the file is implied by the medium attack complexity.

Exploitation

Not listed in CISA KEV and no ransomware association is recorded, but EPSS is high at roughly 0.53 (99th percentile) and a public Exploit-DB entry (5687) exists, indicating known public exploit material.

What to do

• Upgrade Acrobat Reader to a fixed release per Adobe bulletins APSB08-19 and APSB09-04; versions 8.1.2 and earlier and before 7.1.1 are affected.
• Apply vendor patches from downstream distributions (Red Hat RHSA-2008-0974, openSUSE, Oracle/Sun alerts) where Reader is packaged or bundled.
• Disable or restrict automatic opening of PDFs from untrusted sources and block PDF attachments at the mail gateway where feasible.
• Run Reader with reduced privileges and enable OS-level exploit mitigations (DEP/ASLR) to limit code execution impact.

Detection

• Monitor for Acrobat Reader crash events and unexpected process termination correlated with recently opened PDF files.
• Hunt for PDF files matching the known proof-of-concept name 2008-HI2.pdf or with malformed structure on endpoints and mail gateways.
• Alert on Reader spawning child processes or making unusual network connections after opening a document, which would suggest successful exploitation.

This assessment is produced automatically and is not human-reviewed. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting on it.