Vulnerability Note VU#698924

Adobe Acrobat allows pointer overwrite via specially crafted PDF file

Overview

Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader fail to properly handle a specially crafted PDF file, which may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

I. Description

Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader are applications designed to create and view Portable Document Format (PDF) files. A specially crafted PDF file can cause heap memory corruption when it is opened in these applications. This memory corruption may allow an attacker to overwrite the contents of the EIP (Extended Instruction Pointer) register, thus gaining control of program execution flow. According to Adobe, the affected versions are:

Adobe Reader 7.0.8 and earlier versions Adobe Acrobat Standard, Professional and Elements 7.0.8 and earlier versions Adobe Acrobat 3D

II. Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

III. Solution

Apply an update

Apply an update, as specified in Adobe Security bulletin APSB07-01.

Disable the displaying of PDF documents in the web browser

To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web browser:

Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Open the Edit menu.
Choose the preferences option.
Choose the Internet section.
Un-check the "Display PDF in browser" check box.

Do not access PDF documents from untrusted sources

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected PDF documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010.
Any website that hosts a PDF document may be leveraged to exploit this vulnerability. Web site and network Administrators can take the following steps to prevent their web sites from being leveraged in attacks using this vulnerability:

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Adobe	Vulnerable	19-Jan-2007

References

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-01.html
http://www.piotrbania.com/all/adv/adobe-acrobat-adv.txt
http://secunia.com/advisories/23666/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/21981
http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2007/Jan/1017491.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/23882/
http://secunia.com/advisories/23877/
http://secunia.com/advisories/23812/

Credit

Thanks to Piotr Bania for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

Date Public	01/10/2007
Date First Published	01/19/2007 01:04:16 PM
Date Last Updated	01/24/2007
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CVE-2006-5857
Metric	12.05
Document Revision	14

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