Menu

  • Alerts
  • Incidents
  • News
  • APTs
  • Cyber Decoded
  • Cyber Hygiene
  • Cyber Review
  • Cyber Tips
  • Definitions
  • Malware
  • Threat Actors
  • Tutorials

Useful Tools

  • Password generator
  • Report an incident
  • Report to authorities
No Result
View All Result
CTF Hack Havoc
CyberMaterial
  • Education
    • Cyber Decoded
    • Definitions
  • Information
    • Alerts
    • Incidents
    • News
  • Insights
    • Cyber Hygiene
    • Cyber Review
    • Tips
    • Tutorials
  • Support
    • Contact Us
    • Report an incident
  • About
    • About Us
    • Advertise with us
Get Help
Hall of Hacks
  • Education
    • Cyber Decoded
    • Definitions
  • Information
    • Alerts
    • Incidents
    • News
  • Insights
    • Cyber Hygiene
    • Cyber Review
    • Tips
    • Tutorials
  • Support
    • Contact Us
    • Report an incident
  • About
    • About Us
    • Advertise with us
Get Help
No Result
View All Result
Hall of Hacks
CyberMaterial
No Result
View All Result
Home Alerts

Foxit PDF Reader Flaw Enables PE Attack

May 27, 2024
Reading Time: 3 mins read
in Alerts
Foxit PDF Reader Flaw Enables PE Attack

A newly discovered vulnerability in Foxit PDF Reader allows attackers to escalate their privileges from a low-privileged user to SYSTEM level. Identified as CVE-2024-29072, this high-severity flaw, with a rating of 8.2, affects multiple versions of Foxit PDF Reader for Windows. Foxit has issued a security advisory and released patches to address this critical issue.

The vulnerability arises from improper certification validation of the updater executable before its execution. When a user initiates an update via the Help → About Foxit PDF Reader → Check For Update pathway, the software writes the FoxitPDFReaderUpdater.exe file in the %APPDATA%\Foxit Software\Continuous\Addon\Foxit PDF Reader folder and runs it under the user context. The update service then calls CryptQueryObject on this file to retrieve its certificate information but only checks for the certificate’s existence without validating it thoroughly. This check is performed under the SYSTEM context, making it a critical security flaw.

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by using signtool.exe from Visual Studio to craft a malicious file with a self-signed certificate. By setting an opportunistic lock (oplock) on the updater executable, the attacker can replace it with the malicious file during the update process. When FoxitPDFReaderUpdateService.exe calls CryptQueryObject on the modified file, it proceeds without proper validation and executes the malicious executable with elevated privileges, effectively escalating the attacker’s access to SYSTEM level.

Users are strongly advised to update Foxit PDF Reader to the latest version immediately to protect against potential exploits. If updating is not possible, users should avoid performing updates through the vulnerable mechanism until a patch can be applied.

Reference:

  • Critical Foxit PDF Reader Flaw Allows System-Level Privilege Escalation

Tags: Cyber AlertCyber Alerts 2024Cyber RiskCyber threatFoxit PDFMay 2024PDFSystemVulnerabilitiesWindows
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

Hackers Target Libraesva Email Flaw

Hackers Target Libraesva Email Flaw

September 30, 2025
Hackers Target Libraesva Email Flaw

ShadowV2 Botnet Targets Misconfigured AWS

September 30, 2025
Hackers Target Libraesva Email Flaw

Cisco Warns Of IOS Zero Day Bug

September 30, 2025
Fake Microsoft Teams Installers Spread

Fake Microsoft Teams Installers Spread

September 30, 2025
Fake Microsoft Teams Installers Spread

Cybercriminals Use Facebook Google Ads

September 30, 2025
Fake Microsoft Teams Installers Spread

CISA Warns Of Critical Sudo Flaw

September 30, 2025

Latest Alerts

Hackers Target Libraesva Email Flaw

ShadowV2 Botnet Targets Misconfigured AWS

Cisco Warns Of IOS Zero Day Bug

CISA Warns Of Critical Sudo Flaw

Cybercriminals Use Facebook Google Ads

Fake Microsoft Teams Installers Spread

Subscribe to our newsletter

    Latest Incidents

    Ukrainian Hackers Breach Crimean Servers

    Ransomware Gang Claims Maryland Breach

    Arizona School District Data Breach

    Attackers Take Down Asahi Brewer

    Harrods Alerts Customers To Breach

    Hackers Steal Photos From Kido Nursery

    CyberMaterial Logo
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Jobs
    • Legal and Privacy Policy
    • Site Map

    © 2025 | CyberMaterial | All rights reserved

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password?

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In

    Add New Playlist

    No Result
    View All Result
    • Alerts
    • Incidents
    • News
    • Cyber Decoded
    • Cyber Hygiene
    • Cyber Review
    • Definitions
    • Malware
    • Cyber Tips
    • Tutorials
    • Advanced Persistent Threats
    • Threat Actors
    • Report an incident
    • Password Generator
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with us

    Copyright © 2025 CyberMaterial