I first heard of this in the latest issue (Vol. 7, #39 - Sep 25, 2007 - Issue #296) of WXP News.

“A security flaw has been discovered in Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, which is installed on a huge number of PCs. The vulnerability allows attackers to compromise Windows computers…. This problems affects Acrobat Reader versions 7, 8.0 and 8.1. An attacker can use the exploit to automatically run an executable program on your computer if you open a PDF file that’s been crafted to do so.”

My first reaction to this was to immediately recommend that everyone switch to Foxit Reader, but it’s also affected, though to a lesser degree: Foxit gives you a confirmation dialog before it runs the exploit. From ARS Technica:

“The flaw affects both Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003; Windows Vista, OS X, and Linux users are unaffected…. Some work-alike PDF readers, such as the svelte Foxit Reader, are also affected but in a lesser manner: they display a confirmation dialog before the exploit is allowed to run.”

I haven’t used Acrobat Reader on any of my machines since version 6.0–it just got too big. I prefer Foxit Reader/Open Office for reading and creating PDFs. Looks like the Foxit camp is still safe, just don’t allow the exploit to run.

What do you think?

Cheers!
The Geek

Have a question? It can be about anything from cooking to science, whatever you’re interested in: Click here to Ask the Geek! Kenny “The Geek” Harthun has been playing with geeky stuff since 1965. He’s a former research scientist and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at Connective Computing, Inc. and loves to learn about anything and everything.