Adobe Releases Major Security Patch For Acrobat Reader

Adobe has released a security patch that is designed to fix eight major security vulnerabilities in its Acrobat PDF Reader application which includes a fix for a flaw that the company was alerted nearly five months back. 

Earlier in May, a team of researchers at Core Security Technology familiarised Adobe about a couple of serious vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader application, which could allow hackers to exploit users’ system resources by launching an attack code on their systems. 

Only the older versions of Acrobat and Reader, such as version 8.1.2, are affected by the vulnerability; however, the researchers asserted that the newer versions including Acrobat 9 and Reader 9 are still unaffected. 

Researchers further stated that the version 8.1.2 is prone to specially created PDF files, which could allow hacker unauthorised intrusion to user’s PC.  

Moreover, researchers attributed the flaw to the method by which these vulnerable versions of Adobe applications employ JavaScript util.printf() function. 

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The security firm worked with Adobe to plug these security holes, and it didn’t proclaim the vulnerability in the application until it was patched.