New PDF virus spreads without exploiting any flaw

A security researcher has demonstrated a proof-of-concept attack that could allow malicious PDF files to spread to other PDF files on a system without exploiting a specific vulnerability.

Jeremy Conway, a product manager at NitroSecurity, built on the work done by fellow security specialist Didier Stevens to come up with an attack that could spread malicious code into clean PDFs as part of an incremental update.

Last week, Stevens showed how a program launch action triggered by the opening of a PDF could be exploited to execute code embedded in the PDF. Stevens also demonstrated that the pop-up dialogue box normally accompanying such a launch action could be partially manipulated to give users a false sense of security.