Beware of rigged PDF files on BlackBerry

Hackers can use maliciously rigged PDF files to hack into corporate systems hosting the BlackBerry Attachment Service, according to a warning from the makers of the popular smartphone.

Research in Motion (RIM) issued an advisory with patches for multiple flaws in the PDF distiller service and warned and an attacker could exploit the issues by simply e-mailing a booby-trapped PDF file to a BlackBerry user.

The vulnerabilities exist in the PDF distiller of some released versions of the BlackBerry Attachment Service component of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server:

These vulnerabilities could enable a malicious individual to send an email message containing a specially crafted PDF file, which when opened for viewing on a BlackBerry smartphone that is associated with a user account on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, could cause memory corruption and possibly lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition or arbitrary code execution on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry Attachment Service component of that BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Affected versions include the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.0 running on Microsoft Windows version 2003 or 2008, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.0 running on Microsoft Windows 2000, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software versions 4.1.3 through 4.1.7, and BlackBerry Professional Software 4.1.4.

Instructions on applying the patches are available in this RIM advisory.