CVSS2
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
MEDIUM
Authentication
NONE
Confidentiality Impact
COMPLETE
Integrity Impact
COMPLETE
Availability Impact
COMPLETE
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
EPSS
Percentile
99.5%
Adobe Reader and Acrobat contain vulnerabilities in the customDictionaryOpen()
and getAnnots()
JavaScript methods.
Adobe Reader and the Adobe Acrobat family of software is designed to create, view, and edit Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Adobe Reader is widely deployed, and the Acrobat Reader Plug-In displays PDF inside a web browser.
Adobe Reader and Acrobat support JavaScript. The JavaScript methods customDictionaryOpen()
(CVE-2009-1493) and getAnnots()
(CVE-2009-1492) do not safely handle specially crafted arguments and can be manipulated to execute arbitrary code. Publicly available exploit code claims to work on Adobe Reader 9.1 and 8.1.4 on GNU/Linux. Limited testing shows that Adobe Reader and Acrobat on and Microsoft Windows platforms crash when parsing a PDF file that contains a specially crafted getAnnots()
call. As of 2009-04-29 we have not confirmed the reported customDictionaryOpen()
vulnerability.
Adobe Security Advisory APSA09-02 states that the getAnnots()
vulnerability affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and UNIX, while the customDictionaryOpen()
vulnerability appears to only affect Adobe Reader for UNIX.
By convincing a user to open a specially crafted PDF file, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code.
Update
From Adobe Security Bulletin APSB09-06, update to version 9.1.1, 8.1.5, or 7.1.2 of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Standard, Pro and Pro Extended.
Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat
Disabling JavaScript prevents these vulnerabilities from being exploited and reduces attack surface. If this workaround is applied to updated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, it may protect against future vulnerabilities.
To disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader:
Edit
menu.Preferences...
option.JavaScrip
t section.Enable Acrobat JavaScript
check box.Some vendors ship JavaScript support in a separate package. Removing this package may remove JavaScript support.
Prevent Internet Explorer from automatically opening PDF documents
The installer for Adobe Reader and Acrobat configures Internet Explorer to automatically open PDF files without any user interaction. This behavior can be reverted to the safer option of prompting the user by importing the following as a .REG file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.7]
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00
Disable the displaying of PDF documents in the web browser
Preventing PDF documents from opening inside a web browser reduces attack surface. If this workaround is applied to updated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, it may protect against future vulnerabilities.
To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web browser with Adobe Reader:
Edit
menu.Preferences...
option.Internet
section.Display PDF in browser
check box.To disable the vulnerable getAnnots()
method, rename or remove the Annots.api
file. This will disable some Annotation functionality, however annotations can still be viewed. This does not protect against the customDictionaryOpen()
vulnerability.
On Windows, Annots.api is typically located here:
"%ProgramFiles%\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\plug_ins"
Example location on GNU/Linux:
/opt/Adobe/Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/Annots.api
**Do not access PDF documents from untrusted sources
970180
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Javascript is disabled. Click here to view vendors.
Notified: April 28, 2009 Updated: May 13, 2009
Affected
We have not received a statement from the vendor.
Please see Adobe Security Bulletin APSB09-06 and Adobe Security Advisory APSA09-02. See also:
<http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/potential_adobe_reader_issue.html>
<http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/update_on_adobe_reader_issue.html>
<http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/05/adobe_reader_issue_update.html>
None
There are no additional comments at this time.
If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23970180 Feedback>).
Group | Score | Vector |
---|---|---|
Base | 0 | AV:–/AC:–/Au:–/C:–/I:–/A:– |
Temporal | 0 | E:Not Defined (ND)/RL:Not Defined (ND)/RC:Not Defined (ND) |
Environmental | 0 | CDP:Not Defined (ND)/TD:Not Defined (ND)/CR:Not Defined (ND)/IR:Not Defined (ND)/AR:Not Defined (ND) |
These vulnerabilities were publicly reported by Arr1val.
This document was written by Art Manion.
CVE IDs: | CVE-2009-1492, CVE-2009-1493 |
---|---|
Severity Metric: | 21.80 Date Public: |
blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/potential_adobe_reader_issue.html
blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/update_on_adobe_reader_issue.html
blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/05/adobe_reader_issue_update.html
www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/js_api_reference.pdf
www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-02.html
www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-06.html
www.securityfocus.com/bid/34736/
www.securityfocus.com/bid/34740/