On the lines of Microsoft's Tuesday Patch, Adobe Systems too issued a mega patch on Tuesday to fix as many as 29 security flaws in the most recent versions of its Reader and Acrobat applications.

Applicable to all Windows, Mac and UNIX systems, the update fixes vulnerabilities that facilitated malicious remote attacks executed by hackers largely through PDF applications.

In a security advisory issued on Friday, Abode had cautioned the users that active attacks can exploit critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, thereby enabling remote attackers to break into the computers of users and for launching information-stealing malware.

Confirming that four of the flaws can be exploited, Adobe added that "arbitrary code execution has not been demonstrated, but may be possible." The company further said that though the other vulnerabilities were not likely to lead to a compromised system, they could be used to crash Reader or Acrobat.

Noting that the latest patches would make security update process more efficient and accessible to users, Adobe stated in the advisory accompanying the updates to versions 9.2, 8.1.7 and
7.1.4 of Reader and Acrobat: "These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system."

It further added: "Updates apply to all platforms - Windows, Macintosh and UNIX."