Windows 7: Adobe Reader Patches 'Incomplete'

Brink · 17 Aug 2012

Quote:

A Google security team is warning that Adobe has passed on fixing a number of vulnerabilities in its Reader software for viewing PDF documents.

Adobe released a new version of Reader on Tuesday that fixed about 20 vulnerabilities in the Mac and Windows versions of the product. Despite the large number of flaws addressed in the patches, a number of serious vulnerabilities remained untouched, according to an analysis released on Wednesday by Mateusz Jurczyk and Gynvael Coldwind of Google.

Google's interest in Reader is the result of having the PDF viewer embedded in the search engine's Chrome browser. Earlier this year, the Google team started testing the application for exploitable bugs exposed through crashes of the viewer.

While Adobe fixed vulnerabilities rated high and critical, lesser flaws were untouched. "Unfortunately, 16 more crashes affecting Windows, OS X, or both systems remain unpatched," the Google security team said.

Read more at:
Adobe Reader Patches 'Incomplete' | PCWorld Business Center

DustSailor · 17 Aug 2012

Must not bother them so much. After all, it is free. If html 5 support gets fully implemented and works well, I will switch.

Lady Fitzgerald · 18 Aug 2012

Do these vulnerabilities also affect Adobe Acrobat (the full version, not the reader)?

dtxx · 18 Aug 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Do these vulnerabilities also affect Adobe Acrobat (the full version, not the reader)?

No one can say for sure that without testing it, but it's very likely that reader and acrobat full have some code in common. They do a huge number of things to attempt to get a useful crash out of a program, and only a very small percentage are usually useful. Depending on how the two programs manage memory and other factors, the exploits from Reader may need to be modified or there might be an entirely separate set for the acrobat full version. However, the full version of acrobat is definitely exploitable in some manner (as is just about every program of any size).

Windows 7: Adobe Reader Patches 'Incomplete'

Adobe Reader Patches 'Incomplete' problems?