PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Editor

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John_Farmer
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PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Editor

Post by John_Farmer »

Viewing a PDF file can infect your computer with a virus, even if you have switched off Javascript in your PDF viewer. Not all PDF viewers are affected by a specific malware, because malware usually exploits specific weaknesses of specific viewers (e. g. Adobe Reader affected but not XChange Viewer) and weaknesses generally get fixed with updated versions of the affected PDF viewer. Many people recommend not to use Adobe's viewer because their high market share makes them more attractive for malware producers. Now my questions:
Did we ever have a weakness in XChange Viewer that we didn't have in the same (or similar) release date's versions of
1. XChange Editor
2. Adobe Reader
?
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Ed

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello John_Farmer,

The only vulnerability that we have had to act upon is this one:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/compan ... ts/view/80
And it was a general exploit in PDF files - affecting multiple PDF software producers.

It was several years ago and affected the Viewer, not the Editor. We are not aware of any current (even potential) issues that could affect our products, and have written them to the highest standards to make sure that the chance of such issues happening are minimal. The Editor, as was the Viewer, is entirely written "in house" and the code in it is almost 100% our own (with some exclusions like image compression libraries, that are unavoidable for providing integration of our products with the relevant standards or third party applications).

Regards,
Stefan
John_Farmer
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Re: PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Ed

Post by John_Farmer »

Hi Stefan,

You said "it affected the Viewer, not the Editor". Are you saying the Editor is even a bit more secure than the Viewer? Especially considering the Viewer is not really (or not as much) maintained anymore, unlike the Editor. I'm still using the Viewer because I don't need the features of the Editor.

Cheers,
John
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Ed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

HI John,

he said that because the Editor was not released yet at the time. Does that make it more secure? I would suggest the distinction is a touch pedantic, had the Editor been on the market at the time we would have handled it identically to how we handled the Viewer.

I hope that helps.

Paul
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Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
John_Farmer
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Re: PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Ed

Post by John_Farmer »

Hi Paul,

I didn't know that the Editor was not released yet at that time. So yes, it helped. Thanks a lot to both of you.

John
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: PDF viruses: Vulnerabity of XChange Viewer vs XChange Ed

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

:D
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Thank you.

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Will Travaglini
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