acroread: UUDecode filename buffer overflow

Background

acroread is Adobe’s Acrobat PDF reader for Linux.

Description

acroread contains two errors in the handling of UUEncoded filenames. First, it fails to check the length of a filename before copying it into a fixed size buffer and, secondly, it fails to check for the backtick shell metacharacter in the filename before executing a command with a shell.

Impact

By enticing a user to open a PDF with a specially crafted filename, an attacker could execute arbitrary code or programs with the permissions of the user running acroread.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest available version of acroread.

Resolution

All acroread users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge sync
 
 # emerge -pv ">=app-text/acroread-5.09"
 # emerge ">=app-text/acroread-5.09"