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Adobe on Monday released a security advisory warning that Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader, and Adobe Acrobat are susceptible to a zero-day vulnerability that's being actively exploited.

"There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) file delivered as an email attachment, targeting the Windows platform," said Adobe. "At this time, Adobe is not aware of any attacks via PDF targeting Adobe Reader and Acrobat."

A successful exploit would allow the attacker to crash or take over the targeted system.

Vulnerable software includes Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris operating systems; Flash Player 10.2.154.25 and earlier for Chrome users; and Adobe Flash Player 10.2.156.12 and earlier for Android. In addition, the Authplay.dll component--included with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh--is also vulnerable.

But Adobe said that protected mode in Adobe Reader X would prevent this type of exploit from being able to execute. In addition, these products aren't affected: Reader 9.x for Unix, Reader for Android, and 8.x versions of Reader and Acrobat.

Attackers are exploiting the vulnerability via spear-phishing campaigns against U.S. government workers and contractors, according to security reporter Brian Krebs.

No patch is available yet for Flash, Reader, or Acrobat, though Adobe said it is "in the process of finalizing a schedule for delivering updates." Since Adobe Reader X would block the attack, Adobe said it won't get patched until the next regularly scheduled quarterly security update, planned for June 14.

The new vulnerability announcement comes three weeks after Adobe released an emergency patch to safeguard its products against similar exploits. As that suggests, when it comes to vulnerabilities, attackers have largely shifted their focus from operating systems and browsers to browser plug-ins--and especially Flash.

But businesses are having a difficult time coping with the non-stop "patch or perish" cycle that results from the seemingly endless stream of new vulnerabilities. According to the forthcoming May 2011 InformationWeek Analytics Strategic Security Survey of business technology and security professionals, from 2010 to 2011 the number of organizations that rated their patch management processes "very effective" dropped from 27% to 22%.

Furthermore, according to VirusTotal, a service that analyzes antivirus software effectiveness, as of Saturday, only one out of 42 antivirus products was detecting as malicious a file--"Disentangling Industrial Policy and Competition Policy.doc"--being used in the attack. By Tuesday, however, 15% of the 42 antivirus software applications were detecting it.