Security companies are warning of a vulnerability in two Adobe programs that could allow hackers to compromise your PC. Attackers are actively exploiting the flaw, although security researchers say the onslaught isn’t yet widespread. Versions 9 and 8.x of Adobe Reader and Acrobat are affected.
According to Adobe, this vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Adobe categorizes this as a critical issue and recommends that users update their virus definitions and exercise caution when opening files from untrusted sources.
“Adobe is planning to release updates to Adobe Reader and Acrobat to resolve the relevant security issue. Adobe expects to make available an update for Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 by March 11th, 2009,” Adobe said in its security advisory. “Updates for Adobe Reader 8 and Acrobat 8 will follow soon after, with Adobe Reader 7 and Acrobat 7 updates to follow.”
Several Attack Variations
In the meantime, Adobe said it is in contact with antivirus vendors, including McAfee and Symantec. According to the Shadowserver Foundation, there are several different variations of the attack, and it’s only a matter of time before the vulnerability ends up in every exploit pack on the Internet. Zero-day attacks are the preferred choice of cybercriminals because victims are less able to defend against them.
“At the turn of 2009, malicious PDF documents were discovered to be exploiting a zero-day vulnerability affecting Adobe Reader 8.x and 9.x. In parsing a specially crafted embedded object, a bug in the reader allowed the attacker to overwrite memory at an arbitrary location,” said McAfee’s Geok Meng Ong. “The attacks, found in the field, use the infamous ‘HeapSpray’ method via JavaScript to achieve control of code execution.”
When successful, the attack installs a backdoor for remote control and monitoring of infected…