acrobat

Adobe Acrobat and Reader updates address critical security holes

Adobe has released a new version of both Adobe Reader and Acrobat, which addresses a critical security issue where the program can crash and allow an attacker to take control of the system. This is important for some users, since they may have the reader and accompanied Internet plugin installed for use with Firefox and other browsers that do not use Apple's built-in PDF rendering.… Read more

Adobe Reader, Acrobat updates fix 17 critical holes

Adobe on Tuesday released updates for Reader and Acrobat that plug 17 critical holes, including one being exploited in the wild to take control of computers and one that could be used to launch an attack using social engineering and PDF files.

Adobe warned about the vulnerability being used in attacks, which also affected Flash Player, in early June and plugged the hole in Flash on June 10.

Meanwhile, the PDF vulnerability was made public in late March by security researcher Didier Stevens, who fashioned a proof-of-concept attack that relied on the "/launch" functionality. Another researcher at NitroSecurity … Read more

Adobe to fix critical Reader hole next week

Adobe will release updates for Reader and Acrobat on Tuesday that will fix critical security issues, including plugging a hole that could be used to take control of computers and which has been exploited in the wild, the company said on Thursday.

Adobe warned about that vulnerability, which also affected Flash Player, about three weeks ago and plugged the hole in Flash on June 10.

The security updates coming on Tuesday are for Adobe Reader 9.3.2 for Windows, Mac, and Unix, Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2 for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 8.2.2 and Acrobat … Read more

Adobe to plug Flash hole this week

Adobe Systems said it will issue a patch for a critical hole being exploited in the wild by delivering an update for Flash Player by Thursday, and for Adobe Reader and Acrobat by June 29.

The update of Flash Player 10.x will support Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, while the date for the release of a Solaris version is still to be determined, Adobe said late Monday. Meanwhile, the Adobe Reader and Acrobat update to come in three weeks will support Windows, Mac, and Unix.

Adobe released the advisory late last week and said there had been reports of the … Read more

Adobe reports 'critical' flaw in Flash, Acrobat

Adobe has issued a security advisory about a "critical" vulnerability in its Flash Player and Adobe Reader and Acrobat products that it says could let attackers take control of people's computers.

The company said late Friday that there had been reports of the hole actually being exploited and that an official patch was not yet available.

Affected software includes:

Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2, 9.0.262, and earlier 10.0.x and 9.0.x versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.3.2 and earlier 9.x versions … Read more

Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard

The introduction of Adobe Acrobat 9 document-creation software could do for PDFs what the Jazz Singer did for movies. For the first time, PDFs can "talk" via embedded Flash video and Shockwave animation. In turn, users of Version 9 of the nearly ubiquitous and free Acrobat Reader will be able to watch movies, play interactive games, and run applications baked into PDFs without opening a third-party media player.

Among the many new, dynamic features to justify a business purchase of Acrobat 9 include dynamic maps, enhanced 256-bit encryption, and improved forms. On top of it all, Adobe offers … Read more

Adobe to launch updater service next week

Adobe will release its latest security updates for Reader and Acrobat on Tuesday via a new update system it has been testing the past six months, the company said on Thursday.

The Adobe updates will coincide with April's Patch Tuesday during which Microsoft will fix 25 vulnerabilities, including two for which exploit code has been released in the wild.

On Tuesday, Adobe will activate its updater technology for all users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat and use it to deliver the updates to resolve critical security issues, details of which were not disclosed in its security advisory.

The updates … Read more

Workspace tools come to Adobe's Acrobat.com

Adobe is launching another offensive into the online office collaboration market with a new addition to its Acrobat.com service that lets groups of users share virtual workspaces.

The workspaces feature, which just went live on the Acrobat.com site, is aimed at teams who are working in different locations. Each workspace looks and acts the same as a user's individual collection of files. However, its creator can select other administrators and contributors who can manage what gets stored there. This level of control can also be applied on a per-file basis, so you can give certain users access … Read more

Are Adobe products safe?

On January 16, 2009, Adobe learned about a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 involving the JBIG2 image compression standard. Even though there were reports that the hole was being exploited, it took Adobe nearly two months to issue a patch.

"Our process was not optimized for rapid turn around. It took us longer than we wanted it to," Brad Arkin, director of product security and privacy at Adobe, said in a recent interview with CNET.

That wasn't the only exploit targeting Adobe's PDF reader programs. About 80 percent of new exploits targeted Adobe's … Read more