On Tuesday, a critical 'JavaScript vulnerability' was detected in 9.1 and 8.1.4 versions of the popular portable document format reader, Abode Reader. As per SecurityFocus. com, Adobe Reader 8.1.4 and 9.1 for Linux are also likely to be affected by the vulnerability.

According to a warning issued by the US-CERT (US Computer Emergency Readiness Team), the vulnerability could facilitate the execution of a malicious code by remote hackers. They can use the code to trigger a series of attacks like - the denial of service; crashing of an application; or control of a system for viewing accounts and stealing information.

Acknowledging the defect, which owes its origin to an error in the "getAnnots" JavaScript function, Abode said in a blog that the vulnerability affects "all currently supported shipping versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat Reader."

The federal agency has urged the users to diminish the risk of an attack by hackers, by disabling JavaScript in Adobe Reader. In order to disable JavaScript, users need to go to the Edit: Preferences tab, select the JavaScript Category, and uncheck the option "Enable Acrobat JavaScript."

Though there have been no reported cases of any "in the wild" attacks exploiting the vulnerability, Abode said: "We are working on a development schedule for these updates and will post a time line as soon as possible."

(Via TopNews. Contributed by Jimmy Peterson)