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back to article Malware spectre haunts Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader may be subject to a security hole that creates a means for hackers to take over vulnerable Windows boxes simply by opening a maliciously constructed PDF document. Gray hat hacker Petko Petkov, who first discovered the bug, omits details of the supposed flaw. He said security concerns over the potency of the flaw …

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  1. Gordon Fecyk

    Go on, block PDFs! You know you want to! And blame Microsoft again!

    Where are the pundits waiting in line to blame Microsoft for a flaw in a non-Microsoft product?

    Where's the call to block PDF documents in e-mail?

    Where are the people running Adobe Reader with full admin on Windows (read: almost everyone who uses Adobe Reader) crying how insecure their operating system is?

    Come on, you know you want to. Post away. If Microsoft wrote Adobe Reader, this column would've had 30+ comments by now.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Error?

    And I had a delicious mental image of some kind of ejector seat add-on for Vista, which, at the first hint of malware, launched the user across the room to prevent further action.

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  3. Joe K

    Adobe are the new Real

    They shouldn't have to scan PDF's for malicious code, its a bloody text/graphics document!!

    I'd like to thank whatever fellow commenter on the reg pointed me towards Foxit, a STAGGERINGLY better PDF reader without all the addon/spyware/pointless bullshit that Adobe is packing on.

    Just look where that got RealNetworks! Idiots.

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  4. James Condron

    evince

    I'll just stick with good ol' evince i think

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  5. Anthony Rasat

    Re: Go on, block PDFs! You know you want to! And blame Microsoft again!

    "Where are the pundits waiting in line to blame Microsoft for a flaw in a non-Microsoft product"

    We are kinda busy pimping Beryl at the moment, to impress our girl. We're feeling lucky tonight.

    Have a happy malware busting day (or days), sorry we can't join you!

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  6. Steve J. Rapaport

    Is anyone still using Adobe Reader?

    Adobe Reader is so huge and slow, so cumbersome and awful to start up, so painful with its constant demands to be endlessly updated, that everyone in my company stopped using it ages ago.

    If you want to read PDF documents (with or without your web browser), you can use lightweight free alternatives such as Foxit Reader http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php and say goodbye to Adobe Bleeder forever.

    Then this little vuln announcement won't bother you.

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  7. JC

    Re: Go on, block PDFs! You know you want to! And blame Microsoft again!

    Wow, for Gordon to preemptively complain they must've really made some good points and he's still sore about it.

    In honor of Gordon I want us all to abandon our subjective software needs and practice Gordonism.

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  8. Donna

    They're not just ads anymore

    "crying how insecure their operating system is?"

    Maybe if people were nicer to their operating systems and complimented them once in awhile, they'd be less insecure. Unless they're crying about how UNsecure their OS is. In that case then you're right, windows is an unsecure pos.

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  9. Joe Cincotta

    Foxit rocks the spot...

    I have to also say that it was a while ago I too got sick of the rectum clenching startup times and quagmire of plugins which Reader 8 brought to the table. I mean - really, the latest Adobe Reader thing has extensions to display 3D models! Can anyone say DXF?! Please pick what the hell you want to be doing and stick with it.

    Foxit has been standard fare for all our users for a while and I can happily say that I have never made a move with less regret. Its lean, fast and does whats advertised.

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  10. Dam

    Re: Adobe is the new Real

    I'm running reader 5.1 here, which is much less bloated than the latest versions ^^

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