Security News > 2021 > May > Foxit Reader bug lets attackers run malicious code via PDFs
Foxit Software, the company behind the highly popular Foxit Reader, has published security updates to fix a high severity remote code execution vulnerability affecting the PDF reader.
The high-severity vulnerability results from a Use After Free bug found by Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos in the V8 JavaScript engine used by Foxit Reader to display dynamic forms and interactive document elements.
This security flaw is caused by how the Foxit Reader application and browser extensions handle certain annotation types, which attackers can abuse to craft malicious PDFs that will allow them to run arbitrary code via precise memory control.
The vulnerability impacts Foxit Reader 10.1.3.37598 and earlier versions, and it was addressed with the release of Foxit Reader 10.1.4.37651.
Foxit fixed several other security bugs impacting previous Foxit Reader versions in the latest release, exposing users' devices to denial of service, remote code execution, information disclosure, SQL injection, DLL hijacking, and other vulnerabilities.
Issues where the application could be exposed to DLL Hijacking vulnerability when it was launched, which could be exploited by attackers to execute remote code by placing a malicious DLL in the specified path directory.