Home Page | Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content | Skip to Search | Skip to Footer

Security Best Practice: Protect Yourself against Multiple Adobe Reader JBIG2 Vulnerabilities

Subscribe

Check Point Reference: SBP-2009-16
Date Published:
Severity:
Source: Adobe Security Bulletin APSB09-07
Industry Reference(s): CVE-2009-0509
CVE-2009-0510
CVE-2009-0511
CVE-2009-0512
CVE-2009-0198
CVE-2009-1861
CVE-2009-0888
CVE-2009-0889
Protection Provided by: Security Gateway
  • R70
IPS-1
  • IPS-1
  • IPS-1 NGX R65
Who is Vulnerable?
Adobe Reader 9.1.1 and earlier
Adobe Acrobat Standard
Adobe Acrobat Standard Pro
Adobe Acrobat Standard Pro Extended 9.1.1 and earlier
Vulnerability Description
Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Adobe Reader and Acrobat when handling PDF files that contain a JBIG2 stream. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on an affected system via a specially crafted PDF file. Portable Document Format (PDF) is an open file format created by Adobe Systems. It is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a device and resolution independent fixed-layout document format. Successful exploitation of this issue will crash the vulnerable application, and may allow execution of arbitrary code on an affected system.
Update/Patch Available
Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader users on Windows
Adobe Reader users on Macintosh

Acrobat
Acrobat Standard, Pro and Pro Extended users on Windows
Acrobat 3D users on Windows
Acrobat Pro users on Macintosh
Vulnerability Details
There are multiple heap overflow vulnerabilities in the JBIG2 filter that could lead to code execution. The vulnerabilities are due to errors in Adobe products that fail to sufficiently validate input when processing embedded JBIG2 streams within PDF documents: A remote attacker could trigger these flaws via a specially crafted PDF file. Successful exploitation will create a denial of service condition, causing the application to crash, and may allow execution of arbitrary code once a malicious PDF file is loaded on a vulnerable system.

Protection Overview
This protection will detect and block attempt to transfer over HTTP PDF files that contain JBIG2 encoding. Activating this protection may result in legitimate PDF traffic with embedded JBIG2 images being blocked.

In order for the protection to be activated, update your Security Gateway product to the latest IPS update. For information on how to update IPS, go to SBP-2006-05, Protection tab and select the version of your choice.

To configure the defense, select your product from the list below and follow the related protection steps.

Security Gateway R70

How Can I Protect My Network?
1. In the IPS tab, click Protections > By Protocol > Application Intelligence > Content Protection > Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
2. In the right pane, double-click the Adobe Reader PDF Documents Containing Embedded JBIG2 Streams protection.
3. In the Protection Details window, click on Edit. Choose the protection's Action (Override IPS Policy with: Prevent/Detect), and apply Additional Settings.
4. Install policy on all modules.

How Do I Know if My Network is Under Attack?
SmartView Tracker will log the following entries:

Attack Name: Adobe Reader Violation
Attack Information: Adobe Reader PDF documents containing embedded JBIG2 streams

IPS-1

How Can I Protect My Network?
1. In the IPS-1 Policy Manager, click on the Protection tab.
2. In the Protection tree, click Application Intelligence > Badfiles, and select the PDF Skimmer protection group.  
3. Click PDF Document Skimming (IPS-1 NGX R65 only).
4. In the configuration pane, under Settings, check Active.
5. Click on Install Policy.

How Do I Know if My Network is Under Attack?

Upon attack, the following entry will be logged:

Alert Name: Badfiles PDF Skimming
Description: PDF Document Skimming