Spyware, viruses, & security forum: Security Advisory for Adobe Reader and Acrobat (APSA13-02)

Release date: February 13, 2012

Last updated: February 14, 2012

Vulnerability identifier: APSA13-02

CVE number: CVE-2013-0640, CVE-2013-0641

Platform: All Platforms

Summary:

Adobe has identified critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-0640, CVE-2013-0641) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, 9.5.3 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.3 for Linux. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

Adobe is aware of reports that these vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks designed to trick Windows users into clicking on a malicious PDF file delivered in an email message.

Adobe is in the process of working on a fix for these issues and will update this advisory when a date for the fix has been determined.

Affected Software Versions:

• Adobe Reader XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh
• Adobe Reader X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh
• Adobe Reader 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux
• Adobe Acrobat XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh
• Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh
• Adobe Acrobat 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh

Mitigations:

Users of Adobe Reader XI and Acrobat XI for Windows can protect themselves from this exploit by enabling Protected View. To enable this setting, choose the "Files from potentially unsafe locations" option under the Edit > Preferences > Security (Enhanced) menu.

Enterprise administrators can protect Windows users across their organization by enabling Protected View in the registry and propagating that setting via GPO or any other method. Further information about enabling Protected View for the enterprise is available here.

Details:

Adobe has identified critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-0640, CVE-2013-0641) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, 9.5.3 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.3 for Linux. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

Adobe is aware of reports that these vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks designed to trick Windows users into clicking on a malicious PDF file delivered in an email message.

Adobe is in the process of working on a fix for these issues and will update this advisory when a date for the fix has been determined.

Users may monitor the latest information on the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team blog at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt or by subscribing to the RSS feed at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/atom.xml.

Adobe actively shares information about this and other vulnerabilities with partners in the security community to enable them to quickly develop detection and quarantine methods to protect users until a patch is available. As always, Adobe recommends that users follow security best practices by keeping their anti-malware software and definitions up to date.

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa13-02.html