CVE-2020-6112
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows remote code execution through a specially crafted JPEG2000 image embedded in a PDF file. When Nitro Pro processes the malicious PDF, memory corruption occurs due to pointer miscalculation during stripe decoding, potentially giving attackers control over the victim's system. Users of vulnerable Nitro Pro versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Nitro Pro
📦 What is this software?
Nitro Pro by Gonitro
Nitro Pro by Gonitro
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise with attacker gaining complete control over the victim's machine, enabling data theft, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement within the network.
Likely Case
Malicious PDFs delivered via phishing or compromised websites lead to remote code execution on individual workstations, potentially resulting in data exfiltration or malware installation.
If Mitigated
With proper email filtering, web filtering, and endpoint protection, exploitation attempts are blocked before reaching vulnerable systems, limiting impact to isolated incidents.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction to open a malicious PDF. The vulnerability is well-documented with technical details available in the Talos report.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 13.13.3.426 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://www.gonitro.com/nps/security/updates
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Nitro Pro. 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates. 3. Follow prompts to install latest version. 4. Restart computer after installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable JPEG2000 processing
windowsConfigure Nitro Pro to disable JPEG2000 image decoding
Not applicable - configuration change through GUI
Use alternative PDF viewer
allTemporarily use Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers until patched
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to block execution of vulnerable Nitro Pro versions
- Deploy network segmentation to isolate systems running vulnerable software from critical assets
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Nitro Pro version: Open Nitro Pro > Help > About Nitro Pro. If version is 13.13.2.242 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
wmic product where "name like 'Nitro Pro%'" get versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 13.13.3.426 or later in Help > About Nitro Pro. Test with known safe PDFs containing JPEG2000 images.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes in Nitro Pro with memory access violations
- Unexpected child processes spawned from nitro_pro.exe
Network Indicators:
- PDF downloads from suspicious sources followed by Nitro Pro execution
SIEM Query:
process_name="nitro_pro.exe" AND (event_id=1000 OR event_id=1001) AND exception_code="0xc0000005"