Evaluation Summary

Important: You need to trust the certificate which is used to validate the signature; otherwise, the signature validation in the application will be shown as self-signed.

Legend:

  • insecure: Application is vulnerable to the attack
  • insecure (conditional): The vulnerability is limited, i.e., the same warning is raised in case of an allowed modification (e.g., commenting) as well as in case of unallowed modifications (attacks)
  • secure: Application is not vulnerable to any shadow attack variant

Windows

Application Version Shadow Hide Shadow Replace Shadow Hide-and-Replace
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2019.021.20061 insecure insecure insecure
Adobe Acrobat Pro 2017 2017.011.30156 insecure insecure insecure
Expert PDF 14 14.0.25.3456 64-bit insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
Foxit Reader 9.7.0.29455 secure insecure insecure
Foxit PhantomPDF 9.7.0.29478 secure insecure insecure
LibreOffice Draw 6.4.2.2 secure insecure (conditional) insecure
Master PDF Editor 5.4.38, 64 bit insecure insecure insecure (conditional)
Nitro Pro 12.16.3.574 insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
Nitro Reader 5.5.9.2 insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
PDF Architect 7 7.0.26.3193 64-bit insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
PDF Editor 6 Pro 6.5.0.3929 insecure insecure insecure
PDFelement 7.4.0.4670 insecure insecure insecure
PDF-XChange Editor 8.0 (Build 331.0) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
Perfect PDF Reader V14.0.9 (29.0) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
Perfect PDF 8 Reader 8.0.3.5 insecure insecure insecure
Perfect PDF 10 Premium 10.0.0.1 insecure insecure insecure
Power PDF Standard 3.0 (Patch-19154.100) insecure insecure insecure
Soda PDF Desktop 11.1.09.4184 64-bit secure insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)

macOS

Application Version Shadow Hide Shadow Replace Shadow Hide-and-Replace
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2019.021.20061 insecure insecure insecure
Adobe Acrobat Pro 2017 2017.011.30156 insecure insecure insecure
Foxit Reader 3.4.0.1012 insecure insecure insecure
Foxit PhantomPDF 3.4.0.1012 insecure insecure insecure
LibreOffice Draw 6.4.2.2 secure insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)
Master PDF Editor 5.4.38, 64 bit secure secure secure
PDF Editor 6 Pro 6.8.1.3450 secure secure secure
PDFelement 7.5.7.2895 secure secure secure

Linux

Application Version Shadow Hide Shadow Replace Shadow Hide-and-Replace
Master PDF Editor 5.4.38, 64 bit secure insecure insecure
LibreOffice Draw 6.4.2.2 secure insecure (conditional) insecure (conditional)

Status fixes (22.10.2020)

All bugs have been reported by the CERT-Bund.

Fixes announced by the vendors

  • Adobe DC (Mac + Win): 2020.006.20042
  • Adobe 2017 (Mac + Win): 2017.011.30166
  • Adobe 2015 (Mac + Win): 2015.006.30518
  • LibreOffice v6.4.7 and 7.0.2
  • Foxit PDF und Foxit PhantomPDF (Win) 9.7.2+
  • Foxit PDF und Foxit PhantomPDF (Mac) 4.0+
  • SodaPDF v12+
  • Kofax (PowerPDF)
  • Master PDF Editor (Win): 5.7.08

Confirmed message receipt (no feedback regarding patch):

  • Master PDF Editor
  • Nitro
  • PDF-XChange
  • pdfforge GmbH PDF Architect

No feedback despite multiple contact attempts:

  • eXpert / ExpertReader
  • PDF Editor
  • PDFelement
  • Perfect