Hackers Find Adobe Flash Player Flaw Found
The U.S Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US CERT) has suggested that users turn off Flash because of vulnerabilities in Flash Player and Adobe Reader, as hackers have started to launch attacks.
Adobe issued a security advisory warning users of a zero-day flaw, found in versions 9 and 10 of Adobe Flash Player, that is triggered by bugs in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 9.1.2.
This enables attackers to install a malicious Flash Player file
is embedded into PDF documents, which might be used to bring down a user’s system or allow them to steal data.
The assault is started when a user is enticed to visit a malicious web-siteâtypically through some social engineering schemeâor by sending an contaminated PDF file by way of email. The PDF when opened will cause the trojan (Pidief.G) to install automatically.
Adobe researchers say that they have already started to see what they call “limited targeted attacks” launched on Adobe Reader version 9 for Windows, which caused the company to rank the weakness as “critical.” However, security experts anticipate additional attacks will follow.
Symantec Security researcher Patrick Fitzgerald said in a blog post that this Flash Player assault was predominantly hazardous due to the ubiquitous nature of Flash. Usually vulnerabilities are restricted to a specific browser or operating system, in this case, Flash can affect many platforms, causing issues across a range of platforms.
“Flash is used in a good number browsers and is also available in PDF documents. It is largely operating-system-independent; therefore the threat posed by this issue is not to be taken lightly,” Fitzgerald said. “The big user base of Flash presents attackers with a huge target audience Meanwhile, researchers at the
“NoScript a Firefox extension that allows JavaScript to be executed only by trusted Web sites] is your best help here, of course,” said SANS researcher Gearld FitzPatrick, in a blog post.
FitzPatrick said that the vulnerability has now paved the way for a low number of “drive-by” attacks, in that attackers infuse a legitimate Web site with malicious code or lure users to a malicious Web site of their own creation. Attacks have been launched on Internet Explorer and Firefox Web browsers, FitzPatrick said.
Adobe said it has been in touch with security and antivirus vendors and
The U.S. CERT recommends that users avoid the security bug by disabling Flash in Adobe Reader 9 on Windows and either disabling Flash Player or selectively enabling Flash content.
Security experts propose that users don’t open PDF attachments from unfamiliar or untrusted sources, and keeping antivirus software up to date.
Posted in: Security Testing