Summary
Nitro PDF Pro for macOS contains a code injection vulnerability that can be triggered by opening a specially crafted PDF document. A local attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code in the context of the affected application when the document is processed.
Nitro PDF Pro for macOS contains a code injection vulnerability that can be triggered by opening a specially crafted PDF document. A local attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code in the context of the affected application when the document is processed.
Affected context
The vulnerability affects Nitro PDF Pro for macOS when it processes crafted PDF content through a vulnerable document-handling path. Exploitation generally depends on a user or local process opening the malicious document in the affected application; the available description does not establish whether additional security controls or interaction requirements apply.
The vulnerability affects Nitro PDF Pro for macOS when it processes crafted PDF content through a vulnerable document-handling path. Exploitation generally depends on a user or local process opening the malicious document in the affected application; the available description does not establish whether additional security controls or interaction requirements apply.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: Local document-processing functionality in Nitro PDF Pro for macOS
- Required access: Ability to place or deliver a crafted PDF to the local system
- Trigger point: Opening or processing the crafted PDF with the affected application
- Why exploitation is possible: A document-handling path may interpret attacker-controlled content in a way that permits unintended code execution
- Attack surface: Local document-processing functionality in Nitro PDF Pro for macOS
- Required access: Ability to place or deliver a crafted PDF to the local system
- Trigger point: Opening or processing the crafted PDF with the affected application
- Why exploitation is possible: A document-handling path may interpret attacker-controlled content in a way that permits unintended code execution
Why this happens
The underlying issue is an unsafe code-generation or interpretation pattern in PDF processing. Attacker-controlled document data reaches a code-execution-sensitive operation without sufficient separation between content and executable behavior, mapping to CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code. The vulnerable behavior is triggered during document parsing or rendering rather than through an intended application feature.
The underlying issue is an unsafe code-generation or interpretation pattern in PDF processing. Attacker-controlled document data reaches a code-execution-sensitive operation without sufficient separation between content and executable behavior, mapping to CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code. The vulnerable behavior is triggered during document parsing or rendering rather than through an intended application feature.
Potential impact
- An attacker may execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Nitro PDF Pro process.
- A successful attack could expose or modify files accessible to the application.
- Malicious code could affect user data or application settings.
- The vulnerability could be used as an entry point for additional local compromise.
- An attacker may execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Nitro PDF Pro process.
- A successful attack could expose or modify files accessible to the application.
- Malicious code could affect user data or application settings.
- The vulnerability could be used as an entry point for additional local compromise.
General mitigation guidance
Mitigation generally focuses on preventing document content from reaching executable operations and reducing the privileges available to document-processing components.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Separating PDF data interpretation from code generation or execution paths.
- Applying strict parsing, validation, and resource limits to untrusted PDF content.
- Treating documents received from untrusted sources as potentially hostile.
- Running document-processing functionality with least privilege and constrained file-system access.
- Using isolation boundaries or sandboxing where practical.
- Keeping security controls enabled and avoiding unnecessary trust of locally delivered documents.
Mitigation generally focuses on preventing document content from reaching executable operations and reducing the privileges available to document-processing components.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Separating PDF data interpretation from code generation or execution paths.
- Applying strict parsing, validation, and resource limits to untrusted PDF content.
- Treating documents received from untrusted sources as potentially hostile.
- Running document-processing functionality with least privilege and constrained file-system access.
- Using isolation boundaries or sandboxing where practical.
- Keeping security controls enabled and avoiding unnecessary trust of locally delivered documents.
How teams detect issues like this
Organizations can look for this class of issue through:
- Static analysis for document-derived data flowing into interpreters, dynamic evaluation, shell execution, or generated code.
- Code review of PDF parsing, rendering, scripting, and embedded-content handling paths.
- Tests using malformed and adversarial PDFs to identify unexpected execution or process behavior.
- Endpoint monitoring for unusual child processes, file writes, or network activity originating from the PDF application.
- Application-control policies that restrict unexpected process creation by document viewers.
- Automated security testing and code-review tools that flag CWE-94 patterns.
Organizations can look for this class of issue through:
- Static analysis for document-derived data flowing into interpreters, dynamic evaluation, shell execution, or generated code.
- Code review of PDF parsing, rendering, scripting, and embedded-content handling paths.
- Tests using malformed and adversarial PDFs to identify unexpected execution or process behavior.
- Endpoint monitoring for unusual child processes, file writes, or network activity originating from the PDF application.
- Application-control policies that restrict unexpected process creation by document viewers.
- Automated security testing and code-review tools that flag CWE-94 patterns.
Sources
| Source | Link |
|---|---|
| nitro. | nitro.com |
| gist. | gist.github.com/ |
