CVE-2026-46529

Fixed in a distro release EPSS <1%CVSS 8.4

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.

Published 2026-06-10 · CVE record · OSV

Products: mate-desktop atril, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Update Services for SAP Solutions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.6 Extended Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Distro releases