Vulnerability DatabaseCVE-2021-34960

CVE-2021-34960:
Foxit PDF Reader vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Overview

Foxit PDF Editor Circle Annotation Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2021-34960) was discovered in Foxit PDF Editor. The vulnerability was reported on August 11, 2021, and publicly disclosed on October 15, 2021. This vulnerability affects installations of Foxit PDF Editor and requires user interaction to be exploited (Zero Day Initiative).

Technical details

The vulnerability exists within the handling of Annotation objects in Foxit PDF Editor. The specific flaw results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS v3.0 score of 7.8 (High) with the vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (Zero Day Initiative).

Impact

An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current process on affected installations of Foxit PDF Editor. The vulnerability requires user interaction, specifically that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file (Zero Day Initiative).

Mitigation and workarounds

Foxit has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. Users should update their Foxit PDF Editor installations to the latest version through the application's update mechanism or by downloading the latest version from the Foxit website (Zero Day Initiative, Foxit Security Bulletins).