Adobe to issue emergency fix for Reader security bug

Adobe on Tuesday warned of a critically rated, unpatched vulnerability in its Adobe Reader and Acrobat software.

Attackers who exploit the memory corruption flaw may be able to take control of a target system, according to an advisory.There are reports of live targeted, but limited, attacks underway.

Adobe expects to fix the issue sometime next week in Reader and Acrobat version 9. However, because the bug is mitigated by Protected View functionality, the company plans to wait until Jan. 10 to patch Reader and Acrobat X, its most current version. Jan. 10 is the scheduled date of Adobe's next quarterly security update.

The advisory details how users of the latest version can enable Protected View.

Reader for Android and Flash Player are not impacted by the vulnerability.