CVE-2016-7013 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Reader and Acrobat before 11.0.18, Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC Classic before 15.006.30243, and Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC Continuous before 15.020.20039 on Windows and OS X allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-6940, CVE-2016-6941, CVE-2016-6942, CVE-2016-6943, CVE-2016-6947, CVE-2016-6948, CVE-2016-6950, CVE-2016-6951, CVE-2016-6954, CVE-2016-6955, CVE-2016-6956, CVE-2016-6959, CVE-2016-6960, CVE-2016-6966, CVE-2016-6970, CVE-2016-6972, CVE-2016-6973, CVE-2016-6974, CVE-2016-6975, CVE-2016-6976, CVE-2016-6977, CVE-2016-6978, CVE-2016-6995, CVE-2016-6996, CVE-2016-6997, CVE-2016-6998, CVE-2016-7000, CVE-2016-7001, CVE-2016-7002, CVE-2016-7003, CVE-2016-7004, CVE-2016-7005, CVE-2016-7006, CVE-2016-7007, CVE-2016-7008, CVE-2016-7009, CVE-2016-7010, CVE-2016-7011, CVE-2016-7012, CVE-2016-7014, CVE-2016-7015, CVE-2016-7016, CVE-2016-7017, CVE-2016-7018, and CVE-2016-7019.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/19/2024
Adobe Reader and Acrobat products have long been prime targets for cyber attacks due to their widespread deployment and complex codebases that process diverse document formats. This particular vulnerability affects multiple versions of Adobe's PDF processing software across different platforms, creating a significant attack surface that adversaries can exploit to gain unauthorized system access or disrupt operations. The vulnerability falls under the category of memory corruption issues, which represent one of the most dangerous classes of software flaws due to their potential for arbitrary code execution. These memory corruption vulnerabilities typically arise from improper handling of memory allocation, deallocation, or buffer operations that can be manipulated by attackers to overwrite critical memory regions.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involves unspecified attack vectors that differ from a comprehensive list of related CVEs, indicating that while it shares the same general category of memory corruption, it operates through distinct mechanisms. This distinction is crucial for security professionals who must understand that each vulnerability, even within the same family, requires specific analysis and mitigation strategies. The vulnerability affects both Windows and macOS operating systems, demonstrating the cross-platform nature of the threat and the need for comprehensive security coverage across different environments. Memory corruption flaws in PDF processing software often stem from improper parsing of maliciously crafted PDF files that contain malformed data structures or unexpected input sequences designed to trigger buffer overflows or other memory management errors.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses severe risks to organizations relying on Adobe Reader and Acrobat for document processing. Attackers can leverage this flaw to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected user, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or establishment of persistent backdoors. The potential for denial of service attacks adds another dimension to the threat landscape, where adversaries can disrupt business operations by causing applications to crash or become unresponsive. The impact extends beyond individual users to enterprise environments where PDF documents are frequently exchanged and processed, making these vulnerabilities particularly dangerous in corporate networks where a single compromised endpoint could serve as a gateway for broader attacks.
Security professionals should implement layered defense strategies to protect against this vulnerability, beginning with immediate patching of affected versions to ensure that all systems are running patched software. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow conditions, both of which are common mechanisms for memory corruption exploits. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies that restrict execution of untrusted PDF files, deploying sandboxing technologies to isolate PDF processing operations, and monitoring for suspicious network activity that might indicate exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework's technique T1059.007, which covers command and script interpreter execution, would be relevant for detecting potential exploitation attempts where attackers attempt to execute malicious code through compromised PDF processing applications. Additional mitigations include network segmentation to limit lateral movement, regular security assessments of document handling processes, and user education to reduce the risk of opening maliciously crafted PDF files from untrusted sources.