Experts found two critical zero-day flaws in the Foxit PDF Reader that could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code on a targeted computer

Security researchers have discovered two critical zero-day vulnerabilities in the popular Foxit Reader application that could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code on a targeted computer, if not configured to open files in the Safe Reading Mode.

The attack scenarios for both vulnerabilities see attackers send a specially crafted PDF file to a Foxit user and tricking him into opening it.

The first zero-day flaw, tracked as CVE-2017-10951, is a command injection vulnerability that was discovered by the expert Ariele Caltabiano from Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI).

“This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Foxit Reader. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.” reads the security advisory for the vulnerability.

“The specific flaw exists within app.launchURL method. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of a user-supplied string before using it to execute a system call. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the current process.”

The second vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2017-10952, is a file write flaw that affects the saveAs JavaScript function. The flaw was discovered by Offensive Security researcher Steven Seeley.

“This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Foxit PDF Reader. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.” reads the security advisory published by ZDI.

“The specific flaw exists within the saveAs JavaScript function. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of user-supplied data, which can lead to writing arbitrary files into attacker controlled locations. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the current process.”