Adobe Warns of Critical Holes in Reader, Acrobat

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For the six billionth time, Adobe is warning users of a critical security flaw that will require a plug in your adobe hole tomorrow. There is no need for a "bend over" reference here, any time you mention Adobe products, it's implied. :eek:

The pre-notification security advisory warning -- APSB12-16 -- gives few details, except noting the affected software versions and the severity of the security flaws.
  • Adobe Reader X (10.1.3) and earlier 10.x versions for Windows and Mac
  • Adobe Reader 9.5.1 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Mac
  • Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.3) and earlier 10.x versions for Windows and Mac
  • Adobe Acrobat 9.5.1 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Mac
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Adobe is a company that continues to prove you can write some of the worst software in the world and still be a market leader. I guess SCCM servers are gonna be kinda busy tomorrow evening.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Adobe is a company that continues to prove you can write some of the worst software in the world and still be a market leader. I guess SCCM servers are gonna be kinda busy tomorrow evening.
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lol yep.

Seriously, how can you screw up a READER?! Basically a read only MS word that has no functionality. Makes no sense it even has to be updated so often or has any code paths that can be exploited.
 
One of the biggest flaws in Reader X is that there is no more vertical or horizontal slider bars to navigate in the document, but I doubt they will fix it... ^-^
 
adobe doesn't make any sense. can a coder please explain how this stupid program is such an exploit ho?
 
spaceman said:
adobe doesn't make any sense. can a coder please explain how this stupid program is such an exploit ho?
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Easy.

They start off with terrible code, and when they find an issue, rather than doing a good job fixing it, they use more terrible code to deal with the issue.

Bad code stacked on bad code is still....bad code.
 
wonderfield said:
PDFs can contain executable code. Why? Someone thought it would be a brilliant idea.
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Who are greater Class AAA+ morons...the people who coded the PDF standard...or everyone who made PDF become the defacto document standard?
 
These security issues with Adobe Reader are seemingly constant and boring. As others have pointed out, it barely does anything more than showing you a document. Why the hell are there seemingly endless security holes in it? I've watched this go on for so many years now....
 
Skripka said:
Who are greater Class AAA+ morons...the people who coded the PDF standard...or everyone who made PDF become the defacto document standard?
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People flock to proprietary software like flies to sticky fly tape.
 
avatardelta said:
Easy.

They start off with terrible code, and when they find an issue, rather than doing a good job fixing it, they use more terrible code to deal with the issue.

Bad code stacked on bad code is still....bad code.
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Like Flash.

Doesn't make sense for 4 tabs with Youtube videos in each of them in Google Chrome to take up 500 MB to 700 MB of RAM total (according to Chrome's task manager) using version 11.3.31.225 of Flash plugin-- external or internal plugins. And, that's just the tabs opened with Youtube in it. That doesn't even include the Plug-in: Flash memory usage.

This is "normal" memory usage of the Flash plug-in in Chrome with only one Youtube video open:
2012-08-13_23-15-40.png


Or, better yet, two to three tabs of Youtube videos opened in each crashing IE 9. Common errors of "page not responding" in IE 9 tend to pop up.

I have yet to get Chrome or IE 9 to crash while using Silverlight (while watching Netflix).

Last time I mentioned RAM usage and Flash crashes on Adobe forums, I got ignored and even told I was doing something wrong by an Adobe Forum moderator.

Really bad programming or something else entirely.
 
Serpent said:
That said... I stopped using acrobat reader a LONG LONG LONG time ago.
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Same here. One of the PRIME examples of bloatware.
There are lots of alternative PDF readers.

If you just need reader functionality, a fasts and light reader is Sumatra PDF reader. (google it, it is everywhere).

The Linux world has a variety of free PDF readers to choose from.
 
Everyone saying that there are loads of alternative PDF viewers needs to undestand where PDF format really shines, and thats the business world. I've worked for 3 very large very different companies in my career. An engineering firm, a state university, and a regional bank. While I use foxit reader on my own pc at home and even at work, I have tried time and time again to get rid of Adobe products where I can in the office. Unfortunately there always comes a need for Acrobat Reader above all else. Someone will have some sophisticated PDF with fillable forms and other doo-dad's, things which all other free PDF readers handle with mediocrity if at all.
 
I'm starting to think adobe reader was created for the soul purpose of government backdoors. ;)
 
I do all my PDF stuff with Nuance now. $59 and it does 95% of what Acrobat Pro does.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I'd never use Reader. I do have to use Acrobat every day, nothing comes close.
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Acrobat has problems too...usually the same problems since the core code is shared between programs. The only thing that makes Acrobat different is that Adobe changes the name flag and the write capabilities switches during compile and then charges $TEXAS for it instead of giving it away for free.

It's in the opening post. RTFOP dammit! >.<
 
SkribbelKat said:
Acrobat has problems too...usually the same problems since the core code is shared between programs. The only thing that makes Acrobat different is that Adobe changes the name flag and the write capabilities switches during compile and then charges $TEXAS for it instead of giving it away for free.

It's in the opening post. RTFOP dammit! >.<
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This is an OUTRAGE!
 
McFry said:
Everyone saying that there are loads of alternative PDF viewers needs to undestand where PDF format really shines, and thats the business world. I've worked for 3 very large very different companies in my career. An engineering firm, a state university, and a regional bank. While I use foxit reader on my own pc at home and even at work, I have tried time and time again to get rid of Adobe products where I can in the office. Unfortunately there always comes a need for Acrobat Reader above all else. Someone will have some sophisticated PDF with fillable forms and other doo-dad's, things which all other free PDF readers handle with mediocrity if at all.
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And to me that's a big problem, people should not be using pdf to make forms anyway. That's what web based php web pages are for. I've seen some of the stupid forms that can be made with PDFs and word, even excel and it's the stupidest idea ever. So flaky and there's no way to centrally manage it if the form needs to be editied. So much simpler to have that running on a web server. Though companies always like to over complicate every process there is. I see it everywhere where a simple process is rendered super complicated for nothing.
 
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