Adobe warns of security bug in Reader and Acrobat
Monday, October 12, 2009
A new web security threat is being exploited by hackers using flaws in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3 on Windows PCs. Adobe said disabling Javascript may disable the attacks.
The bug also affects Macintosh and Linux operating systems, but the attacks are currently limited to Windows systems, Adobe said on its product security incident response team blog last week.
"Adobe plans to resolve this issue as part of the upcoming Adobe Reader and Acrobat quarterly security update, scheduled for release on October 13," Adobe said in a security advisory.
Customers with DEP enabled on Windows Vista will be protected and disabling Javascript also mitigates against this exploit, although a variant that does not rely on Javascript could be possible.
According to security researchers at antivirus company Trend Micro, circulating Trojan malware exploit code uses Javascript in a PDF file to attack the vulnerability and create a backdoor to provide unrestricted user-level access to a hacker.
Windows users can disable Javascript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat by selecting Edit, Preferences, selecting Javascript and unchecking the Enable Acrobat Javascript option.
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