Didier Stevens

Adobe has released a new Adobe Reader version that contains functionality to block my /Launch action PoC, but Bkis found a bypass: just put double quotes around cmd.exe, like this:  “cmd.exe”.

I did some research and discovered that Adobe implemented a blacklist of extensions for the launch action, but that the blacklisting functionality identifies the file type of “cmd.exe” as .exe”, and not .exe

Adobe is aware of the issue, and will evaluate the need to fix the blacklisting functionality.

But meanwhile, you can apply my fix to block launching “cmd.exe”.

You can configure the blacklist of extensions via the registry. Go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\product\version\FeatureLockDown\cDefaultLaunchAttachmentPerms and open registry value tBuiltInPermList.

This is a list of |-separated extensions, together with the action Adobe Reader should take (3 means block the extension). Add .exe”:3 to block “cmd.exe”:

With this addition, Bkis’ bypass will not work anymore:

Some further testing shows that adding 2 double quotes is also a way to bypass the blacklist: “”cmd.exe””:

So we need to block this too:

I tested 3 and 4 quotes too, but this is not accepted by Adobe Reader. But should there still be other valid characters to append to the extension, you can block them in the same way as I showed here, until Adobe fixes the blacklist functionality.

Quickpost info