Executive Summary

Summary
Title Adobe Reader and Acrobat customDictionaryOpen() and getAnnots() JavaScript vulnerabilities
Informations
Name VU#970180 First vendor Publication 2009-04-29
Vendor VU-CERT Last vendor Modification 2009-09-04
Severity (Vendor) N/A Revision M

Security-Database Scoring CVSS v3

Cvss vector : N/A
Overall CVSS Score NA
Base Score NA Environmental Score NA
impact SubScore NA Temporal Score NA
Exploitabality Sub Score NA
 
Calculate full CVSS 3.0 Vectors scores

Security-Database Scoring CVSS v2

Cvss vector : (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C)
Cvss Base Score 9.3 Attack Range Network
Cvss Impact Score 10 Attack Complexity Medium
Cvss Expoit Score 8.6 Authentication None Required
Calculate full CVSS 2.0 Vectors scores

Detail

Vulnerability Note VU#970180

Adobe Reader and Acrobat customDictionaryOpen() and getAnnots() JavaScript vulnerabilities

Overview

Adobe Reader and Acrobat contain vulnerabilities in the customDictionaryOpen() and getAnnots() JavaScript methods.

I. Description

Adobe Reader and the Adobe Acrobat family of software is designed to create, view, and edit Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Adobe Reader is widely deployed, and the Acrobat Reader Plug-In displays PDF inside a web browser.

Adobe Reader and Acrobat support JavaScript. The JavaScript methods customDictionaryOpen() (CVE-2009-1493) and getAnnots() (CVE-2009-1492) do not safely handle specially crafted arguments and can be manipulated to execute arbitrary code. Publicly available exploit code claims to work on Adobe Reader 9.1 and 8.1.4 on GNU/Linux. Limited testing shows that Adobe Reader and Acrobat on and Microsoft Windows platforms crash when parsing a PDF file that contains a specially crafted getAnnots() call. As of 2009-04-29 we have not confirmed the reported customDictionaryOpen() vulnerability.

Adobe Security Advisory APSA09-02 states that the getAnnots() vulnerability affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and UNIX, while the customDictionaryOpen() vulnerability appears to only affect Adobe Reader for UNIX.

II. Impact

By convincing a user to open a specially crafted PDF file, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code.

III. Solution

Update

From Adobe Security Bulletin APSB09-06, update to version 9.1.1, 8.1.5, or 7.1.2 of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Standard, Pro and Pro Extended.

Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat

Disabling JavaScript prevents these vulnerabilities from being exploited and reduces attack surface. If this workaround is applied to updated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, it may protect against future vulnerabilities.

To disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader:

  1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  2. Open the Edit menu.
  3. Choose the Preferences... option.
  4. Choose the JavaScript section.
  5. Uncheck the Enable Acrobat JavaScript check box.
Disabling JavaScript will not resolve the vulnerabilities, it will only disable the vulnerable JavaScript component. When JavaScript is disabled, Adobe Reader and Acrobat prompt to re-enable JavaScript when opening a PDF that contains JavaScript.

Some vendors ship JavaScript support in a separate package. Removing this package may remove JavaScript support.

Prevent Internet Explorer from automatically opening PDF documents

The installer for Adobe Reader and Acrobat configures Internet Explorer to automatically open PDF files without any user interaction. This behavior can be reverted to the safer option of prompting the user by importing the following as a .REG file:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTAcroExch.Document.7]
    "EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00
Disable the displaying of PDF documents in the web browser

Preventing PDF documents from opening inside a web browser reduces attack surface. If this workaround is applied to updated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, it may protect against future vulnerabilities.

To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web browser with Adobe Reader:
  1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  2. Open the Edit menu.
  3. Choose the Preferences... option.
  4. Choose the Internet section.
  5. Uncheck the Display PDF in browser check box.
Rename or remove Annots.api

To disable the vulnerable getAnnots() method, rename or remove the Annots.api file. This will disable some Annotation functionality, however annotations can still be viewed. This does not protect against the customDictionaryOpen() vulnerability.

On Windows, Annots.api is typically located here:
    "%ProgramFiles%AdobeReader 9.0Readerplug_ins"
Example location on GNU/Linux:
    /opt/Adobe/Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/Annots.api
Do not access PDF documents from untrusted sources

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected PDF documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010.

Systems Affected

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
AdobeVulnerable2009-04-282009-05-13

References


http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-06.html
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-02.html
http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/potential_adobe_reader_issue.html
http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/update_on_adobe_reader_issue.html
http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/05/adobe_reader_issue_update.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/js_api_reference.pdf
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34736/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34740/

Credit

These vulnerabilities were publicly reported by Arr1val.

This document was written by Art Manion.

Other Information

Date Public:2009-04-28
Date First Published:2009-04-29
Date Last Updated:2009-09-04
CERT Advisory: 
CVE-ID(s):CVE-2009-1492; CVE-2009-1493
NVD-ID(s):CVE-2009-1492CVE-2009-1493
US-CERT Technical Alerts:TA09-133B
Metric:21.80
Document Revision:44

Original Source

Url : http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/970180

CWE : Common Weakness Enumeration

% Id Name
100 % CWE-399 Resource Management Errors

OVAL Definitions

Definition Id: oval:org.mitre.oval:def:22282
 
Oval ID: oval:org.mitre.oval:def:22282
Title: ELSA-2009:0478: acroread security update (Critical)
Description: The customDictionaryOpen spell method in the JavaScript API in Adobe Reader 9.1, 8.1.4, 7.1.1, and earlier on Linux and UNIX allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or execute arbitrary code via a PDF file that triggers a call to this method with a long string in the second argument.
Family: unix Class: patch
Reference(s): ELSA-2009:0478-01
CVE-2009-1492
CVE-2009-1493
Version: 13
Platform(s): Oracle Linux 5
Product(s): acroread
Definition Synopsis:

CPE : Common Platform Enumeration

TypeDescriptionCount
Application 122
Application 78
Application 2

SAINT Exploits

Description Link
Adobe Reader Javascript API getAnnots method vulnerability More info here
Adobe Reader Javascript API spell.customDictonaryOpen memory corruption More info here

OpenVAS Exploits

Date Description
2010-04-07 Name : Adobe Reader PDF Handling Code Execution Vulnerability (Win)
File : nvt/gb_adobe_reader_exe_code_exec_vuln_win.nasl
2009-10-13 Name : Solaris Update for Adobe Acrobat Reader 121104-10
File : nvt/gb_solaris_121104_10.nasl
2009-07-29 Name : Gentoo Security Advisory GLSA 200907-06 (acroread)
File : nvt/glsa_200907_06.nasl
2009-06-15 Name : SuSE Security Summary SUSE-SR:2009:011
File : nvt/suse_sr_2009_011.nasl
2009-05-25 Name : SuSE Security Advisory SUSE-SA:2009:027 (acroread)
File : nvt/suse_sa_2009_027.nasl
2009-05-20 Name : RedHat Security Advisory RHSA-2009:0478
File : nvt/RHSA_2009_0478.nasl
2009-05-11 Name : Adobe Reader Denial of Service Vulnerability (May09)
File : nvt/gb_adobe_reader_dos_vuln_may09_lin.nasl
2009-05-11 Name : Adobe Reader/Acrobat Denial of Service Vulnerability (May09)
File : nvt/gb_adobe_reader_dos_vuln_may09_win.nasl

Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB)

Id Description
54130 Adobe Reader getAnnots() JavaScript Method PDF Handling Memory Corruption

A memory corruption flaw exists in Adobe and Acrobat Reader. The getAnnots() JavaScript method fails to validate input read from a malformed PDF file resulting in memory corruption. With a specially crafted file, a context-dependent attacker can cause arbitrary code execution resulting in a loss of integrity.
54129 Adobe Reader customDictionaryOpen() JavaScript Method PDF Handling Memory Cor...

Snort® IPS/IDS

Date Description
2018-02-06 Adobe Acrobat Reader getAnnots exploit attempt
RuleID : 45369 - Revision : 1 - Type : FILE-PDF
2016-07-01 Adobe Acrobat Reader getAnnots exploit attempt
RuleID : 39109 - Revision : 2 - Type : FILE-PDF
2016-07-01 Adobe Acrobat Reader getAnnots exploit attempt
RuleID : 39108 - Revision : 2 - Type : FILE-PDF
2014-01-10 Adobe Acrobat Reader getAnnots exploit attempt
RuleID : 23504 - Revision : 8 - Type : FILE-PDF
2014-01-10 Adobe Acrobat Reader spell.customDictionaryOpen exploit attempt
RuleID : 23500 - Revision : 5 - Type : FILE-PDF
2014-01-10 Adobe Acrobat Reader getAnnots exploit attempt
RuleID : 15493 - Revision : 15 - Type : FILE-PDF
2014-01-10 Adobe Acrobat Reader spell.customDictionaryOpen exploit attempt
RuleID : 15492 - Revision : 15 - Type : FILE-PDF

Nessus® Vulnerability Scanner

Date Description
2011-01-27 Name : The remote SuSE 10 host is missing a security-related patch.
File : suse_acroread-6260.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2011-01-27 Name : The remote SuSE 10 host is missing a security-related patch.
File : suse_acroread_ja-6264.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-09-24 Name : The remote SuSE 11 host is missing a security update.
File : suse_11_acroread-090519.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-09-24 Name : The remote SuSE 11 host is missing a security update.
File : suse_11_acroread_ja-090519.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-08-28 Name : The version of Adobe Acrobat on the remote Windows host is affected by a memo...
File : adobe_acrobat_911.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-08-24 Name : The remote Red Hat host is missing one or more security updates.
File : redhat-RHSA-2009-0478.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-07-21 Name : The remote openSUSE host is missing a security update.
File : suse_11_0_acroread-090519.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-07-21 Name : The remote openSUSE host is missing a security update.
File : suse_11_1_acroread-090519.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-07-13 Name : The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related patches.
File : gentoo_GLSA-200907-06.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-05-22 Name : The remote openSUSE host is missing a security update.
File : suse_acroread-6258.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO
2009-05-13 Name : The PDF file viewer on the remote Windows host is affected by a memory corrup...
File : adobe_reader_911.nasl - Type : ACT_GATHER_INFO

Alert History

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0
Date Informations
2014-02-17 12:08:19
  • Multiple Updates