January 12, 2010
Adobe Security Bulletin: January 12
Advisory Overview

January 12, 2010 - Qualys® Vulnerability R&D Lab has released new vulnerability checks in QualysGuard® to protect organizations against 1 vulnerability present in Adobe that was announced today. Customers can immediately audit their networks for these and other new vulnerabilities by accessing their QualysGuard subscription.

Vulnerability Details

Adobe has released 1 security patches to fix newly discovered flaws in Adobe Windows.

Qualys has released the following checks for these new vulnerabilities:


Adobe Reader and Acrobat Vulnerability
SEVERITY: Urgent Urgent-5 5
QUALYS ID: 116768
VENDOR REFERENCE: APSA09-07
CVE REFERENCE: CVE-2009-3953 | CVE-2009-3954 | CVE-2009-3955 | CVE-2009-3956 | CVE-2009-3957 | CVE-2009-3958 | CVE-2009-3959 | CVE-2009-4324
CVSS SCORES: Base 9.3/ Temporal 8.9
THREAT: Adobe Reader and Acrobat are Portable Document Format (PDF) reader and processor developed by Adobe Systems, designed to view, create, manipulate and manage files in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Reader 9.2 and Acrobat 9.2 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, and Adobe Reader 8.1.7 and Acrobat 8.1.7 for Windows and Macintosh. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

Adobe has released updates to resolve the following vulnerabilities:

- A use-after-free vulnerability in Multimedia.api that could lead to code execution (CVE-2009-4324).
Note: There are reports of this issue being actively exploited in the wild; the exploit targets Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 on Windows platforms.

- An array boundary issue in U3D support that could lead to code execution (CVE-2009-3953).
Note: This issue had been incorrectly identified as a previously fixed vulnerability (CVE-2009-2994) in the Metasploit framework.

- A DLL-loading vulnerability in 3D that could allow arbitrary code execution (CVE-2009-3954).

- A memory corruption vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2009-3955).

- A script injection vulnerability by changing the Enhanced Security default (CVE-2009-3956).

- A null-pointer dereference vulnerability that could lead to denial of service (CVE-2009-3957).

A buffer overflow vulnerability in the Download Manager that could lead to code execution (CVE-2009-3958).

- An integer overflow vulnerability in U3D support that could lead to code execution (CVE-2009-3959).

IMPACT: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
SOLUTION: Adobe has released updates to resolve this issue. Refer to Adobe Security Bulletin APSB10-02 to obtain patch details. Also refer to Adobe Security Advisory APSA09-07 to obtain additional details on the vulnerability.

Workaround:
The vendor has recommended the following mitigation techniques until a patch is applied.

Customers using Adobe Reader or Acrobat versions 9.2 or 8.1.7 can utilize the JavaScript Blacklist Framework to prevent this vulnerability. Please refer to the Adobe TechNote for more information.

Customers who are not able to utilize the JavaScript Blacklist functionality can mitigate the issue by disabling JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat using the instructions below:

1) Launch Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
2) Select Edit>Preferences.
3) Select the JavaScript Category.
4) Uncheck the "Enable Acrobat JavaScript" option.
5) Click OK.

Customers using Adobe DEP (Data Execution Prevention) functionality available in certain versions of Adobe Windows are at reduced risk in the following configurations:

All versions of Adobe Reader 9 running on Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7
Acrobat 9.2 running on Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7
Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9.2 running on Windows XP SP3
Acrobat and Adobe Reader 8.1.7 running on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, or Windows 7

This new vulnerability check is included in Qualys vulnerability signatures v1.24.99-3. Each QualysGuard account is automatically updated with the latest vulnerability signatures as they become available. To view the vulnerability signature version in your account, from the QualysGuard HOME menu, select the Account Info tab.

SELECTIVE SCAN INSTRUCTIONS USING QUALYSGUARD:

To perform a selective vulnerability scan, configure a scan profile to use the following options:

  1. Ensure access to TCP ports 135 and 139 are available.
  2. Enable Windows Authentication (specify Authentication Records).
  3. Enable the following Qualys IDs:
    • 116768
  4. If you would like the scan to return the Windows Hostname, also include QID 82044 and ensure access to UDP port 137 is available.
  5. If you would like to be notified if QualysGuard is unable to logon to a host (if Authentication fails), also include QID 105015.

In addition, prior to running a scan for these new vulnerabilities, you can estimate your exposure to these new threats by running the Risk Matrix Report, available from the QualysGuard HOME page.


Technical Support
For more information, customers may contact Qualys Technical Support directly at support@qualys.com or by telephone toll free at:
US: 1 866.801.6161 | EMEA: 33 1 44.17.00.41 | UK: +44 1753 872102
About QualysGuard
QualysGuard is an on-demand security audit service delivered over the web that enables organizations to effectively manage their vulnerabilities and maintain control over their network security with centralized reports, verified remedies, and full remediation workflow capabilities with trouble tickets. QualysGuard provides comprehensive reports on vulnerabilities including severity levels, time to fix estimates and impact on business, plus trend analysis on security issues. By continuously and proactively monitoring all network access points, QualysGuard dramatically reduces security managers' time researching, scanning and fixing network exposures and enables companies to eliminate network vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Access for QualysGuard customers: https://qualysguard.qualys.com

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