Accessibility

Security bulletin

Security Updates available for Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9

Release date: March 10, 2009

Vulnerability identifier: APSB09-03

CVE number: CVE-2009-0658

Platform: All Platforms

Summary

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.

Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 update to Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1. Adobe is planning to make available updates for Adobe Reader 7 and 8, and Acrobat 7 and 8, by March 18. In addition, Adobe plans to make available Adobe Reader 9.1 for Unix by March 25.

Affected software versions

Adobe Reader 9 and earlier versions
Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard, Pro, and Pro Extended and earlier versions

Solution

Adobe Reader

Adobe recommends Adobe Reader users update to Adobe Reader 9.1, available here:
http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Acrobat 9

Adobe recommends Acrobat 9 Standard and Acrobat 9 Pro users on Windows update to Acrobat 9.1, available at the following URLs:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4375
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4382

Adobe recommends Acrobat 9 Pro Extended users on Windows update to Acrobat 9.1, available here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4381

Adobe recommends Acrobat 9 Pro users on Macintosh update to Acrobat 9.1, available here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4374

Severity rating

Adobe categorizes this as a critical issue and recommends that users apply the update for their product installations.

Details

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. This issue is remotely exploitable. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.

Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 update to Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1. Adobe is planning to make available updates for Adobe Reader 7 and 8, and Acrobat 7 and 8, by March 18. In addition, Adobe plans to make available Adobe Reader 9.1 for Unix by March 25.

Adobe is also in contact with anti-virus and security vendors, including McAfee, Symantec and others, on this issue in order to ensure the security of our mutual customers. For Adobe Reader 7 and 8 users who are unable to update to Adobe Reader 9.1, as well as Acrobat 7 and 8 users, more information on immediate protection for this issue from anti-virus and security vendors is available on the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team blog.

A security bulletin will be published on http://www.adobe.com/support/security as soon as further product updates are available. Users may also monitor the latest information on the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team blog at the following URL: http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt or by subscribing to the RSS feed here: http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/atom.xml