adobe acrobat reader continued vulnerabilities

[c0ldshadow]

dear lpf members, i work in the IT security field and just wanted to warn u all about another critical vulnerability in adobe acrobat reader

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/28/adobe_reader_flaw/

consider using another software or disabling javascript in reader

adobe has a long history of vulnerabilities and i doubt it will stop soon. attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to install malware on your machine after viewing specially crafted malicious pdf file

just wanted to give u all a heads up

peace
-ave

 

[HumanSymphony]

Adobe reader in itself is horrible. I use Foxit and i recommend it to everyone

 

[pseudolobster]

I'm using acrobat 5.1, I doubt I'm affected.

Acrobat 5.1 is super lightweight, only a couple megs (the latest version installs to at least 300mb!), and despite it complaining all the time that it's incompatible with the PDF I'm viewing, I've never seen a single PDF it can't render perfectly fine.

I've heard good things about foxit, though I've never had time to play with it.

 

[rkcstr]

Hey, thanks for the warning Avery!

I personally hate Acrobat... the damn thing always sucks up useless memory, causes errors or crashes every other day and now viruses!

 

[weetsie]

acrobat allows scripts within a pdf? :-?

no wonder its got a bad name.

 

[seoguy]

Thanks for the heads-up, c0ldshadow!

I had a bad run-in with an infected Acrobat file last year. :'(

The scariest part was, when I pointed all my AV-type programs right at the file and told them to scan it, none of them delected that it was infected!

I'm using acrobat 5.1, I doubt I'm affected.

pseudolobster, I wouldn't be so sure! If I recall correctly, some of the Acrobat vulnerabilities discovered last year extended way back to many older versions as well!

Even worse, Adobe got hit with multiple issues in a row, so they only bothered to fix the latest versions!

So, if you're running an older PC / OS that is not compatible with the latest (patched) versions of Acrobat Reader, you were basically SOL!

NOTE - that was the situation last year. As I understand it, Adobe doesn't even have a patch yet to fix these latest vulnerabilities!