Adobe to patch critical hole in Reader

Adobe will release a patch on Thursday for a critical hole in Reader that was disclosed at the Black Hat conference late last month, the company said on Wednesday.

The security update will resolve an undisclosed number of critical issues in Reader 9.3.3 for Windows, Mac, and Unix; Acrobat 9.3.3 for Windows and Mac; and Reader 8.2.3 and Acrobat 8.2.3 for Windows and Mac, according to Adobe's advisory.

The flaw, which could be exploited to take control of a computer, is related to the way Adobe's PDF (portable document format) reader software handles fonts, said Charlie Miller, principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators who disclosed the hole at the security conference.

For more on this story, read Critical Adobe Reader hole to be patched Thursday on CNET News.