KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2010-0188

Reader and Acrobat Denial of Service

Adobe / Reader and Acrobat

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Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
88.2%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2010-0188 is a vulnerability affecting Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x before 8.2.1 and 9.x before 9.3.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Adobe / Reader and Acrobat.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Reader and Acrobat Denial of Service

Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x before 8.2.1 and 9.x before 9.3.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors.

View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
21 Feb 2010
Exploitation Reported
03 Mar 2022
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

metasploit cisa ransomware malware

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-0188
  • RHSA-2010:0114 redhat.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0114.html
  • SUSE-SR:2010:006 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-03/msg00004...
  • 38639 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/38639
  • 38915 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/38915
  • ADV-2010-0399 vupen.com · VDB Entry http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0399
  • adobe-unspec-priv-escalation(56297) exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com · VDB Entry https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/56297
  • oval:org.mitre.oval:def:8697 oval.cisecurity.org · VDB Entry https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.m...
  • 38195 securityfocus.com · VDB Entry http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/38195
  • 1023601 securitytracker.com · VDB Entry http://securitytracker.com/id?1023601
  • adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-07.html adobe.com · CVE Record http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-07.html

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 03 Mar 2022

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 03 Mar 2022

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Proof of concept available

Recorded 28 Apr 2025

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2022-03-03 00:00 UTC
CVE 2026-08-14 04:30 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/windows/fileformat/adobe_libtiff.rb 28 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

88.2%

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 7.8 High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 9.3 High

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

adobe_libtiff

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2010-0188

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  3. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  4. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  5. First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  6. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2010-0188

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2010-0188",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.88246,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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