Adobe Reader util.printf() buffer overflow

PDF is one of the most widely used formats for sharing files and documents. So, using it as a potential weapon to exploit the target machine can be a fruitful idea. Adobe Reader is the most popular PDF file reader tool. The exploit we will discuss here is a vulnerability existing in Adobe Reader prior to versions 8.1.3. The exploit works by creating a malicious PDF file which, when opened in vulnerable versions of Adobe Reader, causes a buffer overflow and allows an arbitrary code execution.

Getting ready

The exploit process is very similar to those we have discussed so far in this chapter. Almost all client-side attacks work in a similar manner in which we first generate a malicious file/link and then somehow ask the target user to execute it on his/her machine. So a client-side attack involves Social Engineering as well. Let us move on to this exploit. Here, our target machine is Windows XP SP3 running Adobe Reader version 8.1.

We will start with...