Threat Intelligence / CVE / CVE-2009-3459

CVE-2009-3459 — Adobe Acrobat

CISA KEVRansomware
CVSS v3.1 8.8 (HIGH) · EPSS 88.0% (higher than 99.4% of all scored CVEs) · Priority 10/10 · Published 2009-10-13

As of 2026-05-21, CVE-2009-3459 is a HIGH-severity vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat, CVSS v3.1 8.8, EPSS 88.0% (99.4th percentile). It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-05-20), with a US federal remediation deadline of 2026-06-03, and CISA links it to known ransomware campaigns. Threadlinqs Intelligence links 1 tracked threat campaign to CVE-2009-3459, most recently “CISA KEV Catalog Adds Seven Vulnerabilities (May 20, 2026) — Microsoft Defender CVE-2026-41091 (EoP) and CVE-2026-45498 (DoS) Headline Active Exploitation Batch”.

Last updated: 2026-05-21

What is CVE-2009-3459?

Heap-based buffer overflow in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 7.x before 7.1.4, 8.x before 8.1.7, and 9.x before 9.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted PDF file that triggers memory corruption, as exploited in the wild in October 2009. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.

The record classifies CVE-2009-3459 under weakness classes CWE-119, CWE-122. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw is reachable remotely over the network, needs no prior authentication, needs a user to take an action first, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability. 2 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 6178 days ago.

Severity and exploitation probability

CVSS v3.1 base score
8.8 — HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (FIRST)
88.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.4% of all scored CVEs
CISA KEV
Listed since 2026-05-20, federal remediation deadline 2026-06-03 — used in known ransomware campaigns
Threadlinqs priority
10/10 — CISA lists it as used in ransomware, which Threadlinqs scores at the maximum
Published
2009-10-13, last modified 2026-05-21

Is CVE-2009-3459 being exploited?

CISA added CVE-2009-3459 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-05-20, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2026-06-03 under BOD 22-01. CISA flags the vulnerability as one used in known ransomware campaigns. It currently carries a trending score of 40 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.

Affected products and versions

How to fix CVE-2009-3459

The record marks a vendor fix as available for CVE-2009-3459. Patch reference: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-15.html. Vendor advisory: http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/10/adobe_reader_and_acrobat_issue_1.html. Because CVE-2009-3459 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2026-06-03. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.

Threat activity tracking CVE-2009-3459

1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2009-3459, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.

Sources

Seeded from cveorg and not yet processed by the Threadlinqs enrichment pipeline, so blank CVSS, EPSS or KEV fields above mean NOT MEASURED rather than measured-absent.

Full detection coverage & IOCs for threats exploiting CVE-2009-3459 are available via the Threadlinqs MCP server (Purple tier). View plans →

← all vulnerabilities · Markdown version · Threadlinqs Intelligence