Adobe Reader zero-day selling on criminal underground

By
Follow google news

Company launches investigation.

A new exploit is being reportedly sold on underground cybercrime forums that is capable of compromising machines running the latest versions of Adobe Reader.

Adobe Reader zero-day selling on criminal underground

The flaw, reported by Russian forensic outfit Group-IB, was included in a modified version of the immensely popular BlackHole exploit toolkit.

The exploit targeted Windows-based installations of Adobe X and IX, and was selling for as much as US$50,000 on small underground markets, according to Group-IB.

Projects head Andrey Komarov said the exploit used crafted malformed PDF documents to break Reader’s sandbox – a new feat -- and execute shellcode.

“[This] is appealing for cybercrime gangs because in the past there was no documented method of how to bypass it with shellcode execution,” Komarov said.

“For now this flaw is distributed only in only small circles of the underground but it has the potential for much larger post-exploitation methods.”

He said some instances of exploitation, which was demonstrated in a proof-of-concept video, required the victim to restart their Web browser.

Adobe told blogger Brian Krebs it was investigating the vulnerability but could not yet confirm its authenticity.

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.

Copyright © SC Magazine, Australia

Tags:

Most Read Articles

Tasmanian gov agencies impacted by cyber attack

Tasmanian gov agencies impacted by cyber attack

Australian chief at US defence contractor L3Harris sold exploits to Russia

Australian chief at US defence contractor L3Harris sold exploits to Russia

The BoM has finally tamed SSL

The BoM has finally tamed SSL

Vic gov agencies flying blind on server security, audit finds

Vic gov agencies flying blind on server security, audit finds

Log In

  |  Forgot your password?