Why does Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard secretly phone home?

[John Corliss]

Tia B. McMahon wrote:
> How do I stop Adobe Acrobat from phoning home upon startup?
>
> When I open any PDF document, my Windows firewall says
> - ACROBAT.EXE, Process ID: 1111
> - (Adobe Acrobat 7.0, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Ver. 7.0.0.1333)
> - Attempting network activity.
> - Do you want to trust acrobat.exe?
> To which I always say no.
>
> I've checked all the settings and can't figure out how to stop Adobe
> Acrobat 7.0 Standard from phoning home, particularly:
> - edit > preferences > updates
> - do not automatically check for critical updates
>
> How do I stop Adobe Acrobat 7 from constantly phoning home?

Install a software firewall and rig it to block Adobe Reader from
calling out. That's what I do. There are several freeware firewalls out
there. Perhaps you might want to look at here:

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/se...wfirewall.html

--
John Corliss

[Sebastian G.]

John Corliss wrote:


>> How do I stop Adobe Acrobat 7 from constantly phoning home?
>
> Install a software firewall and rig it to block Adobe Reader from
> calling out.


LOL. Not just that you're trying to treat the symptoms instead of solving
the problem (configuring the application correctly), we're talking about
Adobe Acrobat, not Adobe Reader. Adobe Acrobat's License Managing Service
uses Raw Sockets to easily bypass any NDIS layer packet filter, which from
its perspective is an annoyance anyway since only stupid users would try
stopping a privileged service from accessing network resources since it's
futile by design.

> That's what I do. There are several freeware firewalls out
> there. Perhaps you might want to look at here:
>
> http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/se...wfirewall.html

Aside from the fact that none of the mentioned software products could ever
implement a firewall, where exactly on this website is stated that these
software products are known broken and highly vulnerable implementations
which actually introduce new security vulnerabilities?

[Erica Eshoo]

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:39:51 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
>> Install a software firewall and rig it to block Adobe Reader
> LOL. Not just that you're trying to treat the symptoms instead of solving
> the problem (configuring the application correctly), we're talking about
> Adobe Acrobat, not Adobe Reader.

I have the same problem.

Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) is used often to print an entire web
hierarchy to a PDF so you can't just block ourgoing connections
indiscriminately. If you do, then you'll never be able to capture an entire
web hierarchy (as many levels deep as you like) to a multi-page PDF with
clickable links that take you to all the web pages.

So, the problem is how to RECONFIGURE ACROBAT so that it stops connecting
to the mother ship without stopping connections that you actually want it
to make to a desired web page.

Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that will
tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every use?

[Sebastian G.]

Erica Eshoo wrote:

> Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that will
> tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every use?


No. And this is documented.

[Good Man]

Erica Eshoo <evesunflor@sbcglobal.net> wrote in
news:hK%Xi.2583$RR6.593@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net :


> So, the problem is how to RECONFIGURE ACROBAT so that it stops
> connecting to the mother ship without stopping connections that you
> actually want it to make to a desired web page.
>
> Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that
> will tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every
> use?

No, but as mentioned, use a firewall with specific rule definitions... ie:
don't allow Acrobat to connect to the 'mothership' IP address, but all
other IPs are fine.

[Sebastian G.]

Good Man wrote:

> Erica Eshoo <evesunflor@sbcglobal.net> wrote in
> news:hK%Xi.2583$RR6.593@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net :
>
>
>> So, the problem is how to RECONFIGURE ACROBAT so that it stops
>> connecting to the mother ship without stopping connections that you
>> actually want it to make to a desired web page.
>>
>> Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that
>> will tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every
>> use?
>
> No, but as mentioned, use a firewall with specific rule definitions... ie:
> don't allow Acrobat to connect to the 'mothership' IP address, but all
> other IPs are fine.


Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the typical
"personal firewall" scam.

An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service uses
the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is legitimate).

[Good Man]

"Sebastian G." <seppi@seppig.de> wrote in
news:5pcj87Fqkh3qU2@mid.dfncis.de:

> Good Man wrote:
>
>
> Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the
> typical "personal firewall" scam.

Scam? That piques my interest... how so?


> An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service
> uses the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is
> legitimate).

How about modifying the HOSTS file then?

[Sebastian G.]

Good Man wrote:


>> Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the
>> typical "personal firewall" scam.
>
> Scam? That piques my interest... how so?


They're promising a lot of things they can't hold even remotely, and due to
horribly broken implementations actually make the system more vulnerable?

>> An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service
>> uses the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is
>> legitimate).
>
> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?


setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);

Why are you even suggesting to try playing the cat-and-mouse game? There's
no chance that you could win.

[Erica Eshoo]

On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
>> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?
> setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);

I don't fully understand.

1. I (now) understand there is no option to stop Adobe Acrobat 7 (the
writer) from connecting to Adobe upon startup.

2. You can't software firewall block the "application" from connecting to
the Internet because Acrobat web page capture won't work then.

3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1

4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?
I don't fully understand.

[Leythos]

In article <T4DYi.19461$Pv2.9441@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net >,
evesunflor@sbcglobal.net says...
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
> >> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?
> > setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);
>
> I don't fully understand.
>
> 1. I (now) understand there is no option to stop Adobe Acrobat 7 (the
> writer) from connecting to Adobe upon startup.
>
> 2. You can't software firewall block the "application" from connecting to
> the Internet because Acrobat web page capture won't work then.
>
> 3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
> would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1
>
> 4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?
> I don't fully understand.

If you don't mind, why do you use Adobe software and then object when
they want their software to phone home for any reason? This is an honest
question, I really never understand the complaint about using a vendors
software that phones home.

--

Leythos
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
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