TechNote

Release notes for Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.1.2 SU1 security update

Summary

The Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 addresses a buffer overflow security vulnerability as described in Adobe Security Bulletin APSB08-15. This update also addresses a privilege escalation issue on Adobe Reader for UNIX (not present in Windows or Macintosh) as described in Adobe Security Bulletin APSA08-02. Adobe always recommends that you install the latest security updates.

Note: This Security Update can be applied only to Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 8.1.2 on Windows and Macintosh. Adobe Reader for UNIX 8.1.2 Security Update 1 is a full installer and therefore, does not have a previous version requirement.

Products

Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (Windows, Macintosh, Linus and Solaris)
Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Professional (Windows and Macintosh)
Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Standard (Windows)
Adobe Acrobat 3D 8.1.2 (Windows)

Languages

Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (Windows), Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Professional (Windows) and Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Standard (Windows)

English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Croatian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic and Hebrew

Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (Macintosh), Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Professional (Macintosh)

English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian

Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (Linux)

English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional and Korean

Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (Solaris)

English, French, German and Japanese

Security

See Adobe Security Bulletin APSB08-15 and Adobe Security Bulletin APSA08-02 concerning these issues.

Distribution

Update via the automatic product update system (Windows and Macintosh only)
Incremental update for both Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1.2 products (Windows and Macintosh) or full installer for Adobe Reader (Linux and Solaris) via manual download from Adobe support.

Deployment

Since Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 on Windows and Macintosh are patches, it is desirable to have multiple methods of determining 1) if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 is installed and 2) if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 is installed.

Determining if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 is Installed

Windows
There are multiple ways to determine if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 is installed. First, both will display the 8.1.2 version number in their splash screens. To check, simply click Help >> About... Another method is to check the registry settings. For Acrobat, search for: SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\8.0\Installer\Updates\812 and with Reader, search for: SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\8.0\Installer\Updates\812. Lastly, you can also check Add and Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

Macintosh
There are two ways to determine if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 is installed on a Macintosh system. First, both will display the 8.1.2 version number in their splash screens. Simply click Acrobat >> About Acrobat or Reader >> About Reader. Second, check the CFBundleVersion String in the Info.plist for 8.1.2. For Acrobat, open up the package contents for the Acrobat application file, open the the Info.plist, and look for the value associated with CFBundleVersion. For Reader, open up the package contents for the Reader application file, open the the Info.plist, and look for the value associated with CFBundleVersion.
Determining if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 is Installed

Windows
There are several ways to determine if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 is installed. First, check Add and Remove Programs in the Control Panel, but make sure you to enable the Show Updates check box. Then, Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 will show up as a child entry underneath 8.1.2. Another way is to click Help >> Adobe Plug-Ins. Click on Comments. The API should be dated 6/7/2008. The last way to check for the update is to query the registry setting, which is HKLM\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\8.0\InstallerVersionSU= 1 for Acrobat, and SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\8.0\InstallerVersionSU= 1 for Reader.

Macintosh
There are two ways to determine if Adobe Acrobat or Reader 8.1.2 Security Update 1 is installed. First, simply click Acrobat >> Adobe Plug-Ins or Reader >> Adobe Plug-Ins, then click on Comments. The API should be dated 6/7/2008. The other way, is to look for the following files: /Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe/AcrobatProPatch812su1.txt AND AdobeAcrobatProfessional.app/Contents/MacOS/SelfHealFiles/SecurityPatchStamps/APP_Adobe/AcrobatProPatch812su1.txt for Acrobat, and /Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe/ReaderPatch812su1.txt AND AdobeReader.app/Contents/MacOS/SelfHealFiles/SecurityPatchStamps/APP_Adobe/ReaderPatch812su1.txt for Reader.