• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Code / Prevent the latest exploit in Adobe Acrobat, Disable JavaScript

Prevent the latest exploit in Adobe Acrobat, Disable JavaScript

2009-02-20 by Jason

If you haven’t heard already, there is a buffer overflow attack in the wild that exploits the fully-patched and latest versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader, 8.3 and 9.0. The exploit can come in the form of opening a malicious or poisoned PDF file. You can read more about the specifics of the attack and how it works from an article at The Register. To summarize the problem, Javascript inside of a PDF can allow for code to be run on your computer. Variants of the exploit exist including one that installs a trojan virus and could allow a malicious user remote control over the computer.

Adobe plans to release a patch on March 11th to address the issue. In the meantime, to prevent the exploit from getting a foothold you can disable Acrobat JavaScript from within Adobe Reader and Acrobat. To do this go to Edit, Preferences… Then in the left-pane, navigate to JavaScript. The right-side of the window will update to JavaScript preferences. You should uncheck “Enable Acrobat JavaScript.” Even without this specific exploit, JavaScript should arguably be disabled anyways.

javaprefs

Fortunately for us, this setting is made in the registry. That means we can script it in any instance where we need to deploy this setting change through our enterprise environment.

If you open RegEdit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAdobeAdobe Acrobat9.0JSPrefs, you will see a value named bEnableJS. To disable JavaScript in Acrobat 9.0 set this to a value of 0. To Enable it, set it to a value of 1. Note: If you haven’t changed the JavaScript preferences for Acrobat yet, this key will not exists.

javareg

Execute this command on a computer or put it in a logon script to set this registry value and disable JavaScript in Adobe Acrobat 9.0.

reg add "HKCUSoftwareAdobeAdobe Acrobat9.0JSPrefs" /v bEnableJS /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Adobe Reader 9.0

You will find similar changes to be made with Adobe Reader 9.0. Go to Edit, Preferences… Under JavaScript, disable Acrobat JavaScript by unchecking the box.

readerjavaprefs

The value in the registry can be found at a similar path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAdobeAcrobat Reader9.0JSPrefs

Set the value named bEnableJS to 0 to disable JavaScript.

readerjavareg

Execute this command on a computer or put it in a logon script to set this registry value and disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader 9.0.

reg add "HKCUSoftwareAdobeAcrobat Reader9.0JSPrefs" /v bEnableJS /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Thanks Adobe! Another reason we didn’t need JavaScript or Flash in our PDFs in the first place.

Filed Under: Code, Security and Privacy, Software, Tech Solutions

Trending

  • How a phishing email works
    In Infographics
  • How Your Car’s Tire Pressure Monitoring System Could Allow You To Be Tracked and Hacked
    In Hardware, Gadgets, and Products, Security and Privacy
  • Happy Earth Day! – A Green Compilation
    In Going Green, Media, Talking Points, Tech Solutions

Latest Media Posts

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How to ‘Unblock’ multiple files at a time with PowerShell How to 'Unblock' multiple files at a time with PowerShell
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • SOLVED: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” SOLVED: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month
  • Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin
  • 3d rendering circuit cloud for cloud computing technology Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Printer printing document wirelessly from mobile phone or smartphone wifi connection vector flat cartoon illustration, file air print on fax or ink jet via cellphone bluetooth modern design Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022
  • 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account
  • How to download videos from Instagram How to download videos from Instagram
Ajax spinner

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Recent Posts

  • Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in