| Name | CVE-2026-46529 |
| Description | 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. |
| Source | CVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more) |
| References | DLA-4596-1, DLA-4597-1, DSA-6286-1 |
| Debian Bugs | 958981, 1139874 |
The table below lists information on source packages.
| Source Package | Release | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| atril (PTS) | bullseye | 1.24.0-1+deb11u1 | vulnerable |
| bullseye (security) | 1.24.0-1+deb11u2 | fixed | |
| bookworm, bookworm (security) | 1.26.0-2+deb12u3 | vulnerable | |
| trixie | 1.26.2-4 | vulnerable | |
| forky, sid | 1.28.4-1 | fixed | |
| evince (PTS) | bullseye | 3.38.2-1 | vulnerable |
| bullseye (security) | 3.38.2-1+deb11u1 | fixed | |
| bookworm | 43.1-2 | vulnerable | |
| bookworm (security) | 43.1-2+deb12u1 | fixed | |
| trixie | 48.1-3 | vulnerable | |
| trixie (security) | 48.1-3+deb13u1 | fixed | |
| forky, sid | 49~alpha.1-1 | fixed | |
| evince-gtk3 (PTS) | forky, sid | 48.4+dfsg-1 | fixed |
| papers (PTS) | trixie | 48.3-1 | vulnerable |
| forky | 49.3-2 | vulnerable | |
| sid | 49.3-3 | fixed |
The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.
| Package | Type | Release | Fixed Version | Urgency | Origin | Debian Bugs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| atril | source | bullseye | 1.24.0-1+deb11u2 | DLA-4597-1 | ||
| atril | source | (unstable) | 1.28.4-1 | 1139874 | ||
| evince | source | bullseye | 3.38.2-1+deb11u1 | DLA-4596-1 | ||
| evince | source | bookworm | 43.1-2+deb12u1 | DSA-6286-1 | ||
| evince | source | trixie | 48.1-3+deb13u1 | DSA-6286-1 | ||
| evince | source | (unstable) | 49~alpha-3 | |||
| evince-gtk3 | source | (unstable) | 48.4+dfsg-1 | unimportant | ||
| papers | source | (unstable) | 49.3-3 | |||
| xreader | ITP | 958981 |
[trixie] - papers <no-dsa> (Minor issue; GTK4 does not allow loading GTK plugins via CLI)
https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/security/advisories/GHSA-vgv2-m826-8f6f
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evince/-/work_items/2153
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/19/34
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/21/7
Fixed by: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evince/-/commit/970c219e861a5fcc3e7b9e05bedf18cf0de39245 (48.2)
Fixed by: https://github.com/mate-desktop/atril/commit/b989b7922a454ed81f8bb14786a958828513f576 (1.28.4)
Fixed by: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/papers/-/commit/1b82bf627b4d8b414a57b55a9095e6d361799d6c
No security impact in evince-gtk3 since affected code not built in binary package.