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Attackers target critical Adobe PDF flaw

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Attackers target critical Adobe PDF flaw

SearchSecurity.com Staff

Attackers may be trying to exploit flaws in Adobe Reader by using attack code modified to evade antivirus products.

The Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) warned that malicious PDF files are exploiting the JavaScript

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buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Reader. ISC handler Bojan Zdrnja wrote on the site that proof-of-concept code was published shortly after Adobe Systems Inc. released an update repairing the flaw.

"The payload is in a JavaScript object embedded in the PDF document. Once extracted, it just contains first level obfuscation with a simple eval (unescape()) call," Zdrnja said.

Adobe released an update for Adobe Reader 8 and Acrobat 8. An attacker can pass a malicious PDF file to corrupt memory and cause the programs to crash. Adobe said.

Danish vulnerability clearinghouse Secunia gave the flaws a highly critical rating. Secunia said the flaws could be used to gain escalated privileges.

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