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Adobe Acrobat extension flaw allowed theft of WhatsApp Web data

Feeds.4Sysops •IT News • July 22, 2026

A critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-48294 and dubbed HermeticReader, was recently discovered in the Adobe Acrobat Chrome extension. This flaw allowed malicious websites to bypass browser security policies and access sensitive data from a user's active WhatsApp Web session. The vulnerability affected approximately 329 million browsers, impacting all extension versions up to and including 26.5.2.2. Source

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Adobe Acrobat Extension Vulnerability Enables WhatsApp Data Theft A critical vulnerability in the Adobe Acrobat Chrome extension, tracked as CVE-2026-48294 and named HermeticReader, allows attackers to access WhatsApp Web data without authentication. The flaw affects approximately 329 million users and requires only a single visit to a malicious webpage. Exploitation involves manipulating the extension's integration engine, Hermes, which can execute commands on WhatsApp Web through predictable Tab IDs. Guardio Labs discovered the vulnerability and demonstrated data theft by injecting forms into WhatsApp Web. Adobe has released a patch (version 26.5.2.3) to address the issue, and there are no indications of active exploitation. The vulnerability impacts all versions of the extension up to 26.5.2.2. 7 sources 71

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Adobe Acrobat extension flaw allowed theft of WhatsApp Web data

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