The free Foxit PDF Reader has just been updated to version 2024.2.3 for Windows. There are also corresponding updates for the premium PDF editor Foxit, which can do more than just read PDFs and is one of our favorite apps for PDF editing.
Foxit Software has closed several security vulnerabilities in these updates that are classified as high risk. There are currently no known attacks that exploit these vulnerabilities.
According to Foxit’s security bulletins, all Reader and Editor versions up to and including 2024.2.2 for Windows are vulnerable. Also affected are Foxit PDF Editor 2024.2.2 (and earlier) for macOS and Foxit PDF Editor 13.12 (and earlier) for Windows.
In the Windows editions, Foxit has fixed five security vulnerabilities discovered and reported by third-party security researchers. These are mainly use-after-free vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious PDF files to inject and execute arbitrary code.
Version 2024.2.3 of Reader and Editor fixes these issues. Although the updates have been available since the beginning of last week, Foxit only released the update for its Windows PDF Reader on August 9th.
Foxit PDF Reader (formerly Foxit Reader) is considered a relatively lightweight alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, as the range of functions of Foxit PDF Reader has continuously increased, the app’s relative slimness has decreased. Today, the download size is more than 140 MB.
If you are looking for a really lightweight alternative that is still completely free, you should use the open source program Sumatra PDF. (The download is just under 8 MB.) To quickly read a simple PDF file, the PDF viewing functions of modern web browsers (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Firefox) are usually sufficient.
Foxit PDF Editor (formerly Foxit PhantomPDF) is a commercial tool for creating and editing PDF files and therefore competes with the full-fledged Adobe Acrobat. Note that the Foxit PDF Reader installer will automatically install a 14-day trial version of Foxit PDF Editor if you do not explicitly uncheck the option during the installation process!
Further reading: The best free PDF editors in the ranking
This article originally appeared in our sister publication PC-WELT and has been translated and localized from German.
