The first series of security updates released by Adobe in 2016 will be for the company’s Acrobat and Reader products.
Adobe announced on Thursday that it will release security updates for the Windows and Mac versions of Acrobat and Reader on Tuesday, January 12, to patch a series of critical vulnerabilities that have a priority rating of 2. Security bulletins with this rating include updates that fix vulnerabilities in products that have been at elevated risk, but without any currently known exploits.
The security holes Adobe is preparing to patch affect Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC versions 15.009.20077 and earlier (continuous), Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC 15.006.30097 and earlier (classic), and Acrobat XI and Reader XI 11.0.13 and earlier (desktop). The vulnerabilities affect both the Windows and Mac versions of the software.
Acrobat and Reader X (10.x) are no longer supported since November 15, 2015. Users have been advised to upgrade their installations to the latest versions of Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC.
In 2015, Adobe released three security updates for Acrobat and Reader, patching a total of more than 100 vulnerabilities. The first update, released in May, patched only 7 vulnerabilities, while the next two updates, released in July and October, resolved 46, respectively 58, flaws.
According to vulnerability datasource CVE Details, a total of 460 security holes were reported to Adobe last year, with more than 300 affecting Flash Player. Adobe released numerous updates for Flash Player last year, including ones designed to patch flaws that had been exploited for malicious purposes before fixes were made available.
In late December, Adobe released an out-of-band security update to patch multiple Flash vulnerabilities, including one that had been exploited in a spear phishing campaign.
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