Acrobat Reader Vulnerability

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mikepdx

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15 December, 2009

Adobe Systems, the California-based software giant, has initiated an investigation on an unpatched flaw in
its Reader and Acrobat software that has reportedly been exploited by hackers to install malicious viruses in vulnerable systems.

The software packages were used to implement several attacks since December 11 and according to
reports from security firm Secunia, the hackers were able to successfully install a dubious code in to
targeted systems via the zero-day bug which is affecting Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 or below.

The company has posted a blog on its security page which acknowledges the bug and said that it was
being looked into. However, a specific date of release of a patch has not been announced.

Adobe Acknowledges Acrobat Reader Vulnerability - SecurityProPortal.com
 
mike_s104

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poltergeisty said:
Been using this PDF reader for about two years now. Very fast and as far as I know - no vulnerabilities.

Foxit Software - Foxit Reader 3.0 for Windows

Foxit – Portable PDF Reader | Portable USB Pen Drive Applications :cool:
Click to expand...

Problem would be deploying it at work. We have venders that specify that a certain version of Acrobat Reader is required for their apps. There are not small apps but major ones that a majority of users need access to.

The last major update we deployed for Reader 8.1.6 made it the default reader for PDF. There were so many people that whined that they wanted their old Acrobat 6 Standard as the default viewer. NO...you are using the reader we want you to use due to patching and you will need to learn how to open the PDF from within the application instead of being lazy. 80% of the people that have Acrobat Standard or Pro can't or don't use it.

I use Acrobat Pro all the time. Great application.
 
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It seems many of Adobe's software products are becoming more and more of a risk! In addition to Acrobat, Adobe's extremely popular Flash video viewer is the worst of them all. Adobe admits there will not be a fix for it either!

So if a product such as Adobe Flash has such serious vulnerabilities, and the company admits it can't be fixed, I think it could become a threat to National Security. In view of that, they should consider taking it off the market and people should stop using it.
 
poltergeisty

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mike_s104 said:
Problem would be deploying it at work. We have venders that specify that a certain version of Acrobat Reader is required for their apps. There are not small apps but major ones that a majority of users need access to.

The last major update we deployed for Reader 8.1.6 made it the default reader for PDF. There were so many people that whined that they wanted their old Acrobat 6 Standard as the default viewer. NO...you are using the reader we want you to use due to patching and you will need to learn how to open the PDF from within the application instead of being lazy. 80% of the people that have Acrobat Standard or Pro can't or don't use it.

I use Acrobat Pro all the time. Great application.
Click to expand...

Tell the chieftain that your network is at risk. :lol:

Give it a shoot yourself and see how simple, effective and fast it is. Pretty ridicules for a pdf reader to be so cumbersome and slow. Blew me away the first time I used it.
 
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mikepdx

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mike_s104

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poltergeisty said:
Tell the chieftain that your network is at risk. :lol:

Give it a shoot yourself and see how simple, effective and fast it is. Pretty ridicules for a pdf reader to be so cumbersome and slow. Blew me away the first time I used it.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. It'll be the vender we'd have an issue with. They are pathetic in the first place and put blame on anything but their crappy software. We've been down this path with using Acrobat 9 when they only support Acrobat 8.
 
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