CVE-2026-46529
HIGH 8.4Atril 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.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 8.4), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.5%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 41st percentile
Impact if exploited
8.4CVSS 4.0 · HIGH
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ⚠Access: Requires local access to the host
- ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
- ⚠User interaction: Requires active user interaction
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
- ✓Requirements: No special attack requirements
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Affected
Vendors Mate Desktop Red Hat
Products Atril Red Hat Enterprise Linux Appstream (V. 8) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Appstream E4s (V.9.4) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Appstream Eus (V.9.6) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Appstream (V. 9) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Crb (V. 8) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-77: Command injection
- CWE-88
- CWE-829
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
References
Technical & other
- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/security/advisories/GHSA-vgv2-m826-8f6f
- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.26.3
- https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.28.4
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/19/34
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/21/7
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/22/11
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/05/msg00041.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/05/msg00042.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/06/msg00021.html
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46529
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2487669
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-46529.json