Issued:
2013-10-02
Updated:
2013-10-02

RHSA-2013:1402 - Important: Adobe Reader - notification of end of updates


Synopsis

Important: Adobe Reader - notification of end of updates

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated acroread packages that disable the Adobe Reader web browser plug-in are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6 Supplementary.

Description

Adobe Reader allows users to view and print documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe Reader 9 reached the end of its support cycle on June 26, 2013, and will not receive any more security updates. Future versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader will not be available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The Adobe Reader packages in the Red Hat Network (RHN) channels will continue to be available. Red Hat will continue to provide these packages only as a courtesy to customers. Red Hat will not provide updates to the Adobe Reader packages.

This update disables the Adobe Reader web browser plug-in, which is available via the acroread-plugin package, to prevent the exploitation of security issues without user interaction when a user visits a malicious web page.

Solution

Red Hat advises users to reconsider further use of Adobe Reader for Linux, as it may contain known, unpatched security issues. Alternative PDF rendering software, such as Evince and KPDF (part of the kdegraphics package) in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, or Evince and Okular (part of the kdegraphics package) in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, should be considered. These packages will continue to receive security fixes.

Red Hat will no longer provide security updates to these packages and recommends that customers not use this application on Red Hat Enterprise Linux effective immediately.

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS6.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • acroread-9.5.5-1.el6_4.1.i686.rpm
  • acroread-plugin-9.5.5-1.el6_4.1.i686.rpm
  • acroread-plugin-9.5.5-2.el5_10.i386.rpm
  • acroread-9.5.5-2.el5_10.i386.rpm

Fixes

(none)

CVEs

(none)

References


Additional information