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Preemptive Protection against Adobe Reader Null-Pointer Dereference Denial of Service Vulnerability (APSB10-02)

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Check Point Reference: CPAI-2010-008
Date Published:
Preemptive Since:
Severity:
Source: Adobe Security Bulletin - APSB10-02
Industry Reference(s): CVE-2009-3957
Protection Provided by: Security Gateway
  • R70
Who is Vulnerable?
Adobe Reader 9.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX
Adobe Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Vulnerability Description
A denial of service vulnerability has been discovered in Adobe Reader and Acrobat. 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 cause the application to become non-responsive.
Update/Patch Available
Update patches:
Adobe Security Bulletin - APSB10-02
Vulnerability Details
The vulnerability is due to a flaw in Adobe products when parsing a FlateDecode filter inside a PDF file. A remote attacker could trigger this issue via a specially crafted PDF file. Successful exploitation will create a denial of service condition, causing the application to become non-responsive once a malicious PDF file is loaded on a vulnerable system.

Protection Overview
This protection will detect and block attempts to transfer malformed PDF files over HTTP. No update is required to address this vulnerability.

Users are protected against this vulnerability if the protection for blocking malformed PDF files in the Protection section of CPAI-2009-186 has been applied.

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 FlateDecode Parameters Integer Overflow (APSB09-07) 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 FlateDecode parameters integer overflow (APSB09-07)