Sun has re-released an alert notification and official patches to address the getAnnots function buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
Description
Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.1, 8.1.4, and 7.1.1 and prior contain a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user.
The vulnerability is due to insufficient boundary checking on annotation parameters in Adobe PDF documents. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by convincing a user to view a malicious PDF. If the user views the document, the attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user.
Proof-of-concept code is available.
Adobe has confirmed this vulnerability and released updated software.
Warning Indicators
Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.1, 8.1.4, and 7.1.1 and prior are vulnerable.
IntelliShield Analysis
To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker must convince a user to view a malicious PDF. The attacker may provide a file to the user as part of an e-mail message or host the file on a website. The attacker may use social engineering techniques to make users more likely to open a provided document.
An exploit could allow the attacker to perform actions or execute code on the system with the privileges of the user. If users on affected systems run applications with restricted privileges, the impact of an exploit may be limited. However, if a user holds elevated privileges, the attacker could execute arbitrary code that may result in complete system compromise.
Exploit code is available that allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code that creates a remote shell on Linux platforms. Information from Adobe indicates the vulnerability may also affect applications that are running on Microsoft Windows platforms; however, no exploit code that exploits the vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat for Windows is known to exist publicly.
Vendor Announcements
Adobe has released a security bulletin at the following link: APSB09-06
Red Hat has released a security advisory at the following link: RHSA-2009-0478
Sun has re-released an alert notification at the following link: 259028
US-CERT has released a vulnerability note at the following link: VU#970180
Impact
An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. If the user holds elevated privileges, the attacker could execute code that may result in complete system compromise.
Technical Information
The vulnerability is due to insufficient boundary checking on annotation parameters in Adobe PDF documents. The getAnnots() function fails to properly process overly large input. The processing of a document that contains malicious values could trigger memory corruption.
An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit the vulnerability by convincing a user to view a malicious PDF. If the user views the file, the processing of the file could corrupt memory in a way that could allow the attacker to trigger the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user.
Safeguards
Administrators are advised to apply the appropriate updates.
Adobe has provided an official workaround in the advisory. JavaScript can be disabled for the affected applications. Users are advised to disable JavaScript in Acrobat and Reader until patches become available.
Users are advised not to follow unsolicited links. Users should verify the authenticity of unexpected links prior to following them.
Users are advised not to open unexpected e-mail attachments or executables from untrusted sources.
Users are advised to run applications with the least necessary privileges.
Patches/Software
Adobe has released software updates at the following links:
Version 6, July 15, 2009, 2:41 PM: Sun has re-released an alert notification and interim security relief (ISR) updates to address the getAnnots function buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
Version 5, May 19, 2009, 11:31 AM: Adobe has released a security bulletin and software updates to address the getAnnots function buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
Version 4, May 18, 2009, 11:16 AM: Sun has released an alert notification to address the getAnnots function buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader.
Version 3, May 14, 2009, 5:32 PM: Red Hat has released a security advisory and updated packages to address the getAnnots function buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader.
Version 2, May 4, 2009, 4:12 PM: Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team has confirmed an Adobe Reader vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. The vulnerability affects all versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Updates are not available. US-CERT has released a vulnerability note.
Version 1, April 28, 2009, 10:33 AM: Adobe Reader for Linux contains a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. Updates are not available.
3.0 Base | 4.0 Base | 4.05 Base | 4.05c Base | 5.0.5 Base | 5.0.7 Base | 5.06 Base | 5.1 Base | 6.0 Base | 6.0.1 Base | 6.0.2 Base | 6.0.3 Base | 7.0 Base | 7.0.1 Base | 7.0.2 Base | 7.0.3 Base | 7.0.4 Base | 7.0.5 Base | 7.0.6 Base | 7.0.7 Base | 7.0.8 Base | 7.0.9 Base | 7.1 .1, Base | 8.0 Base | 8.1 Base | 8.1.1 Base | 8.1.2 .0, .1 | 8.1.3 Base | 8.1.4 Base | 9.0 .0 | 9.1 .0 | Original Release Base
Adobe
Acrobat Standard
7.0 Base | 7.0.1 Base | 7.0.2 Base | 7.0.3 Base | 7.0.4 Base | 7.0.5 Base | 7.0.6 Base | 7.0.7 Base | 7.0.8 Base | 7.0.9 Base | 8.1 Base | 8.1.1 Base | 8.1.2 Base | 8.1.3 Base | 8.1.4 Base | 9.0 .0 | 9.1 .0
Associated Products:
Red Hat, Inc.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Supplementary
5.0 IA-32, x86-64
Red Hat, Inc.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extras
3 IA-32, x86_64 | 4 IA-32, x86_64
Red Hat, Inc.
RHEL Supplementary
5 IA-32, x86_64
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Solaris
10 sparc
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