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back to article Foxit outfoxes fiendish flaw to fix foxed-up Firefox PDF plugin

Foxit Software has fixed a critical security hole in its PDF plugin for web browsers. A bug in the code allowed overly long URLs in web links to crash the utility - billed as a "better" alternative to Adobe's software - or potentially inject malicious code into vulnerable Windows systems. The stack-based buffer overflow flaw …

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  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    Do you just love alliteration

    Fiesty Foxit Finally Fixes a Few Fleeting Foibles. Phew.....

    3 1
  2. EddieD

    FFFFF.....

    Ah bollocks, to hard to alliterate.

    Slightly quicker than Adobe - and they patch bugs faster too :)

    3 0
    1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Re: FFFFF.....

      That's why they got a buffer overflow. 16 bit will only get you FFFF

      2 0
  3. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Meh

    Might as well just use pdf.js

    One less attack surface...

    2 0
    1. BlueGreen
      Reply Icon

      Re: Might as well just use pdf.js

      Gave it a try and it worked, and far faster than I'd thought possible. Amazing.

      Thanks for the tip.

      1 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    useful

    This flap lead me to discover Sumatra PDF reader, which seems a great deal smaller, faster and less spammy than Foxit, so it was actually a useful exercise :)

    5 0
    1. Anonymous Dutch Coward
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: useful

      Yep, Suddenly you See Sumatra Sucks less ;)

      (Ok, have to work on my alliteration skills. Unfortunately, that task will just have to join the queue ;) )

      More seriously: yep, love Sumatra. Can't understand why it's not more popular among the Reg crowd.

      0 0
      1. Anonymous IV
        Reply Icon

        Re: useful

        Possibly Reg-ers are appalled by the default acid yellow background of Sumatra PDF?

        Fix it by adding bg-color to the shortcut, as in

        "C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe" -bg-color 0xF2F8FD

        (a delicate pale blue in RGB).

        4 0
    2. Florida1920
      Reply Icon
      Go

      Re: useful

      Got me switched to PDF-XChange. Faster load than Foxit, fills out forms. Farewell Foxit!

      1 0
    3. beep54
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: useful

      Tried Sumatra when Foxit kinda went tits up for a bit and needed a .pdf reader (never, ever going to do Abobe again for that). What I thought neat about Sumatra was that it was also an ebook reader. Still, Foxit (when working) seems to integrate a bit better and Calibre is my ebook reader. Nonetheless, was quite impressed with Sumatra.

      0 0
  5. The Alpha Klutz
    Thumb Up

    Foxit

    I use Foxit but the real point is that diversity is key. if PDF is supposed to be a standard we shouldn't have a monoculture of one single PDF reader. Inevitably it will get bought by a careless profit driven monolith like Adobe and Microsoft who will use it as a platform to start churning out shit.

    6 0
  6. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    I had almost expected

    Firefox to feature in the fantastically fanciful headline

    1 0
    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: I had almost expected

      Good point; forgot that Firefox was the browser the bug was tested against.

      C.

      1 0
      1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: I had almost expected

        I see the Firefox headline flaw has fortuitously been fixed

        0 0
  7. southpacificpom
    Devil

    What a complete and utter fox up...

    0 2
  8. teebie

    Be honest

    You are only reporting on this so you can play with headlines, aren't you?

    0 0
  9. Tom Chiverton 1
    FAIL

    Sadly their download page is so overloaded it wont even load what ever stupid JavaScript they are using instead of a real link...

    0 0
  10. DanceMan
    Coat

    Alliteration

    Admirable allieration achieves accolades.

    Adios. Mine's the one with the OED in the pocket.

    0 0
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