CVE-2009-2992 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
An unspecified ActiveX control in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.2, 8.x before 8.1.7, and possibly 7.x through 7.1.4 does not properly validate input, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/24/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-2992 represents a critical input validation flaw within Adobe Reader and Acrobat software versions prior to specific patches. This issue affects multiple product lines including Adobe Reader 9.x before version 9.2, Adobe Acrobat 8.x before version 8.1.7, and potentially versions 7.x through 7.1.4 of the software suite. The vulnerability stems from an unspecified ActiveX control that fails to adequately validate user input, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system.
The technical flaw manifests through improper input validation mechanisms within the ActiveX control implementation, which is a common attack surface in Adobe's document processing software. This weakness allows attackers to craft specially formatted input that bypasses normal validation checks, potentially leading to unexpected behavior within the application. The vulnerability's classification as a denial of service issue indicates that successful exploitation could result in the application becoming unresponsive or crashing entirely, rendering the document viewing functionality unavailable to legitimate users. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple pathways exist for exploitation, making the vulnerability particularly concerning for security professionals.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to organizations that rely on Adobe Reader and Acrobat for document processing and sharing. The denial of service impact means that attackers could disrupt business operations by causing document viewers to become unavailable, potentially affecting productivity and workflow continuity. The vulnerability's presence in widely deployed software versions creates an extensive attack surface, as these applications are commonly used across enterprises, government agencies, and individual users. Security teams must consider the potential for this vulnerability to be leveraged in targeted attacks against specific organizations or as part of broader exploitation campaigns.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2009-2992 primarily involves applying the official patches released by Adobe to address the input validation issues within the affected ActiveX controls. Organizations should prioritize updating to Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.2, 8.1.7, and the corresponding 7.x patches respectively. System administrators should also implement network-level controls to restrict access to potentially malicious documents and consider deploying application whitelisting solutions to prevent execution of untrusted ActiveX controls. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and represents a typical example of how ActiveX controls can create security risks when not properly validated. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability could be categorized under initial access or execution techniques, potentially enabling further exploitation if combined with other attack vectors. Organizations should also consider implementing security awareness training to help users recognize potentially malicious documents that might trigger this vulnerability during normal usage patterns.