Another security scare for Acrobat or Reader users

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 09 September 2010 11:22

Business IT - Security

Adobe is warning its users that a critical vulnerability in Acrobat and Reader is being actively exploited.

Adobe has disclosed the existence of a critical security vulnerability in Acrobat Reader 9.3.4 and earlier for Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. The flaw is also present in Acrobat 9.3.4 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh.

The vulnerability can cause crashes, and has the potential to allow an attacker to take control of the affected system, presumably by allowing the execution of arbitrary code contained in a malicious document.

Company officials cited reports that the vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild.

The company has yet to announce any mitigations for the problem, or when it plans to release an update to address the issue.

For now, the best advice appears to be to use an alternative PDF reader or to take particular care to check the authenticity of PDF files received via email or downloaded from the web before opening them. It may also be worth checking to see whether your anti-malware vendor has released an update to protect against the vulnerability.