Software maker Adobe has rolled out a major security update for its flagship Acrobat and Reader products to fix at least 22 documented vulnerabilities, some serious enough to cause arbitrary code execution attacks.
The patches, available for Adobe Acrobat and Reader for Windows and macOS, headline a busy Patch Tuesday rollout that also includes fixes for serious flaws in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe RoboHelp and Adobe Character Animator.
According to an advisory from Adobe, the Acrobat/Reader update address multiple critical vulnerabilities that could expose computer users to arbitrary code execution and memory leak attacks.
[ READ: Microsoft Dismisses False Reports About End of Patch Tuesday ]
The vulnerabilities are being documented as ‘use-after-free’ and ‘out-of-bounds read’ memory safety issues. The majority of the bugs were reported to Adobe via bug bounty programs.
Affected product versions include Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader DC, Acrobat 2020, Acrobat 2017 and Acrobat Reader 2017.
The Adobe Patch Tuesday output also included fixes for a code execution flaw in RoboHelp (rated important), a pair of code execution and memory leak issues in Photoshop (Windows and macOS), and two critical bugs in Adobe Character Animator for Windows and macOS.
Adobe said it was not aware of in-the-wild exploits prior to the availability of patches.
Related: ICS Patch Tuesday: Siemens, Schneider Electric Address 59 Vulnerabilities
Related: Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Calls Attention to ‘Wormable’ Windows

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and host of the popular Security Conversations podcast series. He is a security community engagement expert who has built programs at major global brands, including Intel Corp., Bishop Fox and GReAT. Ryan is a founding-director of the Security Tinkerers non-profit, an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, and a regular speaker at security conferences around the world.
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