Abobe Reader 5.1 XFDF Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

From: NGSSoftware Insight Security Research (nisr_at_NEXTGENSS.COM)
Date: 03/04/04

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    Date:         Wed, 3 Mar 2004 23:18:54 -0000
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    NGSSoftware Insight Security Research Advisory

    Name: Adobe Acrobat Reader XML Forms Data Format Buffer Overflow
    Systems Affected: Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.1
    Severity: High Risk
    Vendor URL: http://www.adobe.com/
    Author: David Litchfield [ david@ngssoftware.com ]
    Date Vendor Notified: 7th February 2004
    Date of Public Advisory: 3rd March 2004
    Advisory number: #NISR03022004
    Advisory URL: http://www.ngssoftware.com/advisories/adobexfdf.txt

    Description
    ***********
    Adobe Acrobat Reader is a viewer that renders PDF documents. The Reader can
    be extended using the XML Forms Data Format or XFDF. XFDF is a format for
    representing forms data and annotations in a PDF document. XFDF files have a
    .xfdf extention and are rendered automatically on downloaded when using
    applications such as Internet Explorer. Also note that, regardless of the
    file extention if the MIME type is set to "application/vnd.adobe.xfdf" the
    file will be treated as a XFDF. When parsing an XFDF document the Adobe
    Reader suffers from a classic stack based buffer overflow vulnerability.

    Details
    *******
    When the xfdf file is parsed an unsafe call to sprintf is made in
    preparation for outputting a debug message using OutputDebugString. Whether
    the process is being debugged or not the vulnerable code is still called.
    Rendering the file will tigger the overflow. A user would need to be enticed
    to a web site that hosted a malicious xfdf file or sent one via e-mail.

    Fix Information
    ***************
    On contacting Adobe, they confirmed that the current version is no longer
    vulnerable and NGSSoftware urgently advises users of Adobe Reader to
    upgrade.
    http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

    About NGSSoftware
    *****************
    NGSSoftware design, research and develop intelligent, advanced application
    security assessment scanners. Based in the United Kingdom, NGSSoftware have
    offices in the South of London and the East Coast of Scotland. NGSSoftware's
    sister company NGSConsulting, offers best of breed security consulting
    services, specialising in application, host and network security
    assessments.

    http://www.ngssoftware.com/

    Telephone +44 208 401 0070
    Fax +44 208 401 0076

    enquiries@ngssoftware.com

    -----
    NTBugtraq Editor's Note:

    Most viruses these days use spoofed email addresses. As such, using an Anti-Virus product which automatically notifies the perceived sender of a message it believes is infected may well cause more harm than good. Someone who did not actually send you a virus may receive the notification and scramble their support staff to find an infection which never existed in the first place. Suggest such notifications be disabled by whomever is responsible for your AV, or at least that the idea is considered.
    -----

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