Adobe fixes 13 vulnerabilities in first ‘Patch Tuesday’

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Adobe has released a patch for 13 critical vulnerabilities in its Reader and Acrobat software as part of its first round of regular security updates.

The flaws were identified in Adobe Reader 9.1.1 and Acrobat 9.1.1, and could allow a hacker to potentially exploit them – causing the computer to crash or allow them to run malicious code to take over the system.

Adobe recommended that users of Adobe Reader 9, Acrobat 9 and earlier versions update to Adobe Reader 9.1.2 and Acrobat 9.1.2. The updates apply to Windows and Mac with a UNIX version available on 16 June.

It is the first round of regular security updates from Adobe, which will make security updates available from the second Tuesday of every third month.

This synchronises with Microsoft, which releases its fixes on the second Tuesday of every month.

Sophos security analyst Graham Cluley said on his blog: “It’s becoming more and more common for cybercriminals to take advantage of flaws in PDF-reading software to try and compromise computer systems and install malware."

“Part of the reason for this is that the PDF format is so ubiquitous – widely used both in business and at home as a way of communicating information between people.”

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