What would a PDF file have to do with a kernel vulnerability?

I don't have a status bar by default, but Chrome still shows text in that area on hover. I believe that's the default behaviour in IE9+ and Firefox 4+ as well.

Since I'm using Chrome as a PDF reader as well, I don't believe this vulnerability affects me.

 

The kernel vulnerability may not be exploitable outside of XP (due to Vista+ implementing mitigation techniques) so if you're not on XP it's not a big deal.

If you're on XP the kernel vulnerability could be leveraged from Chrome's PDF reader - though they may do some mitigations to make local escalation more difficult, though I doubt it would be particularly effective.

 

I suppose so, although as others have stated, it's hard to imagine a spoofed hyperlink at Wilders.

None the less, I always check where I'm being led from newsgroups and forums because usually the poster chooses to use the forum link code which displays the name of the site and not the actual URL:

Wilders Security

This is an old ingrained habit -- do you remember the "Storm" Valentine email exploits? Click on the image to view your Valentine, the email read. But the image as a hyperlink led to a trojan executable. The URL could be displayed by hovering the mouse over it:



Of course, even if you are led to what you consider a "trusted" site, it could be booby-trapped. I recall the Miami dolphins Superbowl site exploit, almost seven years ago:

Dolphins' Web sites hacked in advance of Super Bowl
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/dolphins-web-sites-hacked-in-advance-super-bowl-290

These days, an exploit on that site might just serve up a booby-trapped PDF file.

It pays to be careful!


----
rich

 

I would say, instead, it pays to be prepared for the absolute worst possible scenario. In my case, the absolute worst scenario would be an outright successful exploitation of either my Windows or Linux platforms. If this, imho, highly unlikely scenario would happen to me, I would consider it nothing more than a minor inconvenience, as all I would have to do is wipe the drive and re-install a recent image kept on separate physical media of the last known good state my system was in before the exploit occurred. BTW, there is nothing of sensitive personal information kept on my platforms that a malicious exploit could offer an attacker if they did somehow breech my defenses.