New Adobe Acrobat Reader fixes 80+ vulnerabilities

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Adobe logoSecurity researchers from around the world apparently turned their attention to Adobe’s Acrobat and Acrobat Reader recently, and their efforts revealed a big pile of new vulnerabilities. Adobe responded yesterday, releasing new versions of its Acrobat-related products that address eighty-six of those vulnerabilities.

Although Acrobat and Reader exist in several different forms, the one most people actually use these days is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous), and the latest version of that variant is 2019.008.20071.

If you use any paid version of Acrobat, or any of its free Reader variants, you should update it as soon as possible. This is particularly important if you open PDF files with uncertain provenance on the web or received in email. If you use Reader as a browser plug-in or extension, you should drop everything and update immediately.

Recent versions of Acrobat and Reader include an automatic update system, so your install may already be up to date. The easiest way to find out is to run it, then navigate its menu to Help > Check for Updates... If an update is available, you’ll be able to install it from there.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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