iDEFENSE, the security intelligence company, has identified vulnerabilities in both Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Professional and Standard, versions 6.0.0 to 6.0.2. Security information firm Secunia has rated the following issues "highly critical," their second-highest rating for security threats:

1.      Malicious code can access your computer when a malicious media file embedded in a PDF file is played by either a Macromedia Flash Player on Windows or a QuickTime Player on Windows or Mac.

2.      Systems can be compromised if vulnerabilities in the PNG library (libpng version 1.2.5) are exploited with malformed PNG images

3.      A format string error within the eBook plug-in when parsing ".etd" files can be exploited to plant malicious code via a specially crafted eBook containing format specifiers in the "title" and "baseurl" fields.

While there have been no reports of malicious exploits of these vulnerabilities, Adobe Systems is recommending that all users of Reader and Acrobat versions 6.0.0 to 6.0.2 apply the available updates as a proactive measure.

Adobe issued Acrobat and Reader versions 6.0.3 for the Windows and Macintosh OS platforms and then temporarily pulled the Acrobat update for Mac after discovery of a problem in generating PDF files with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. Adobe has since issued 6.0.3a updates for both its Acrobat and Reader software for the Mac OS platform. If you have already installed the initial Acrobat 6.0.3 update, you do not need to install 6.0.3a, but another update will be posted as soon as it is available to address the problem with generating PDF files. Look for that update at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/new.jsp.

Updates are available at these links:

Adobe Reader 6.0.3 update/Windows:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2679

Adobe Reader 6.0.3a update/Macintosh:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2680

Adobe Acrobat 6.0.3 Professional and Standard Update/Windows:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2677

Adobe Acrobat 6.0.3a Professional and Standard update/Macintosh:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2676