CVE-2026-46529 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2026-46529 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2026-46529: 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.

CVE-2026-46529 References

External References

• https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.26.3
• https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/releases/tag/v1.28.4
• https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/security/advisories/GHSA-vgv2-m826-8f6f
• 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

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

• Code Inclusion CAPEC-175 An adversary exploits a weakness on the target to force arbitrary code to be retrieved locally or from a remote location and executed. This differs from code injection in that code injection involves the direct inclusion of code while code inclusion involves the addition or replacement of a reference to a code file, which is subsequently loaded by the target and used as part of the code of some application.
• Serialized Data External Linking CAPEC-201 An adversary creates a serialized data file (e.g. XML, YAML, etc...) that contains an external data reference. Because serialized data parsers may not validate documents with external references, there may be no checks on the nature of the reference in the external data. This can allow an adversary to open arbitrary files or connections, which may further lead to the adversary gaining access to information on the system that they would normally be unable to obtain.
• DTD Injection CAPEC-228 An attacker injects malicious content into an application's DTD in an attempt to produce a negative technical impact. DTDs are used to describe how XML documents are processed. Certain malformed DTDs (for example, those with excessive entity expansion as described in CAPEC 197) can cause the XML parsers that process the DTDs to consume excessive resources resulting in resource depletion.
• Local Code Inclusion CAPEC-251 The attacker forces an application to load arbitrary code files from the local machine. The attacker could use this to try to load old versions of library files that have known vulnerabilities, to load files that the attacker placed on the local machine during a prior attack, or to otherwise change the functionality of the targeted application in unexpected ways.
• PHP Local File Inclusion CAPEC-252 The attacker loads and executes an arbitrary local PHP file on a target machine. The attacker could use this to try to load old versions of PHP files that have known vulnerabilities, to load PHP files that the attacker placed on the local machine during a prior attack, or to otherwise change the functionality of the targeted application in unexpected ways.
• Remote Code Inclusion CAPEC-253 The attacker forces an application to load arbitrary code files from a remote location. The attacker could use this to try to load old versions of library files that have known vulnerabilities, to load malicious files that the attacker placed on the remote machine, or to otherwise change the functionality of the targeted application in unexpected ways.
• Force Use of Corrupted Files CAPEC-263 This describes an attack where an application is forced to use a file that an attacker has corrupted. The result is often a denial of service caused by the application being unable to process the corrupted file, but other results, including the disabling of filters or access controls (if the application fails in an unsafe way rather than failing by locking down) or buffer overflows are possible.
• Open-Source Library Manipulation CAPEC-538 Adversaries implant malicious code in open source software (OSS) libraries to have it widely distributed, as OSS is commonly downloaded by developers and other users to incorporate into software development projects. The adversary can have a particular system in mind to target, or the implantation can be the first stage of follow-on attacks on many systems.
• Local Execution of Code CAPEC-549 An adversary installs and executes malicious code on the target system in an effort to achieve a negative technical impact. Examples include rootkits, ransomware, spyware, adware, and others.
• Inclusion of Code in Existing Process CAPEC-640 The adversary takes advantage of a bug in an application failing to verify the integrity of the running process to execute arbitrary code in the address space of a separate live process. The adversary could use running code in the context of another process to try to access process's memory, system/network resources, etc. The goal of this attack is to evade detection defenses and escalate privileges by masking the malicious code under an existing legitimate process. Examples of approaches include but not limited to: dynamic-link library (DLL) injection, portable executable injection, thread execution hijacking, ptrace system calls, VDSO hijacking, function hooking, reflective code loading, and more.
• Root/Jailbreak Detection Evasion via Hooking CAPEC-660 An adversary forces a non-restricted mobile application to load arbitrary code or code files, via Hooking, with the goal of evading Root/Jailbreak detection. Mobile device users often Root/Jailbreak their devices in order to gain administrative control over the mobile operating system and/or to install third-party mobile applications that are not provided by authorized application stores (e.g. Google Play Store and Apple App Store). Adversaries may further leverage these capabilities to escalate privileges or bypass access control on legitimate applications. Although many mobile applications check if a mobile device is Rooted/Jailbroken prior to authorized use of the application, adversaries may be able to "hook" code in order to circumvent these checks. Successfully evading Root/Jailbreak detection allows an adversary to execute administrative commands, obtain confidential data, impersonate legitimate users of the application, and more.
• Repo Jacking CAPEC-695 An adversary takes advantage of the redirect property of directly linked Version Control System (VCS) repositories to trick users into incorporating malicious code into their applications.
• Install Malicious Extension CAPEC-698 An adversary directly installs or tricks a user into installing a malicious extension into existing trusted software, with the goal of achieving a variety of negative technical impacts.

Other 5 Recently Published CVEs Vulnerabilities

• CVE-2026-53742 – Simple Link Directory through 9.0.4 echoes embed shortcode attributes into HTML data attributes without escaping in the embedder template. Attacker...
• CVE-2026-53741 – Simple Link Directory through 9.0.4 interpolates the sld_no_results_found option into a JavaScript string literal without encoding. Because sanitiz...
• CVE-2026-53740 – Yoast Duplicate Post through 4.6 inserts an unescaped post title and permalink into the Classic Editor scheduled republish notice. Attackers can sc...
• CVE-2026-53739 – Yoast Duplicate Post through 4.6 contains a cross-site request forgery vulnerability in the duplicate_post_dismiss_notice handler, which verifies n...
• CVE-2026-53738 – Copy & Delete Posts through 1.5.4 lets any plugin-enabled non-admin role invoke every operation in the cdp_action_handling AJAX handler. Attackers ...