Atril

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: 2026-06-10T19:46:23.639Z
Updated: 2026-07-28T12:04:47.485Z

Atril Document Viewer is the default document reader of the MATE desktop environment for Linux. A path traversal and arbitrary file write vulnerability exists in versions of Atril prior to 1.26.2. This vulnerability is capable of writing arbitrary files anywhere on the filesystem to which the user opening a crafted document has access. The only limitation is that this vulnerability cannot be exploited to overwrite existing files, but that doesn't stop an attacker from achieving Remote Command Execution on the target system. Version 1.26.2 of Atril contains a patch for this vulnerability.

Published: 2024-01-25T15:30:12.398Z
Updated: 2025-06-17T21:19:29.316Z

Atril is a simple multi-page document viewer. Atril is vulnerable to a critical Command Injection Vulnerability. This vulnerability gives the attacker immediate access to the target system when the target user opens a crafted document or clicks on a crafted link/URL using a maliciously crafted CBT document which is a TAR archive. A patch is available at commit ce41df6.

Published: 2024-01-12T20:27:31.551Z
Updated: 2025-06-17T21:09:18.191Z