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Stealthy Adobe Reader update fixes mystery security bugs

You'll want it but we can't tell you why

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Software & Security, 7th February 2008 11:57 GMT

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Adobe has pushed out a stealthy - but important - update to its Reader software that fixes a number of unspecified security problems.

As well as fixing various performance and stability issues, Adobe Reader version 8.1.2 also resolves a number of mystery security bugs. Details of the performance tweaks, at least, are detailed in Adobe's advisory here. The update covers versions of the software on multiple platforms.

According to figures from Secunia's Personal Software Inspector tool, 61 per cent of all private users need to apply the security update. The Denmark-based security notification firm notes that the update is unusual, for Adobe and the software industry at large, because it omits information on what security issues it address.

"Curiously, no further details are available about the security update, which is not the norm for Adobe," Secunia said. "Past Adobe security-related releases featured information on the security problems, but Wednesday's Adobe update did not." ®

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