Apr 08 2009
Alert: Make sure Adobe Reader/Acrobat is up to date
Adobe recently released updates to Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat to fix a flaw that permitted running arbitrary code on a target system without the user’s knowledge. This is triggered by tricking a victim into opening a maliciously crafted PDF document — typically, an email attachment or a document served up on an infected web site.
Check the Adobe Reader (or Acrobat) version by clicking on the Help menu and then choosing “About…” (If there are two “About” options, use the one that refers to Reader/Acrobat, not the one that says something about plug-ins.) For Reader 9 and Acrobat 9, the version displayed should be 9.1 or later; for Reader/Acrobat 8, it should be at least 8.1.3.
If the program is out of date, the easiest way to fix this is to again select the Help menu, but choose “Check for Updates…” This will download and install the appropriate patches.