Bug#487773: Some pdf files cause evince to generate binary output to stderr

Daniel Kahn Gillmor dkg-debian.org at fifthhorseman.net
Tue Jun 24 01:09:04 UTC 2008


Package: evince
Version: 2.22.2-1
Severity: normal

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A pdf file that i tried to read recently causes evince to send what
appears to be raw binary data to stderr.  A transcript of this
activity is shown below, along with the output of pdfinfo on the pdf
itself.

This behavior seems potentially dangerous, given that some terminal
emulators (at least rxvt-unicode, in my testing here) interpret
certain binary data as a form of instructions about how to manipulate
the terminal itself (this perhaps suggests another bug on
rxvt-unicode).

At any rate, i don't see a way to interpret this data cleanly, so it's
not clear to me what the advantage is to be gained by dumping it in
binary form to stderr.

I'm attaching the evince-output file to this message so you can see
it.

Unfortunately, the document itself that i discovered this in is not
mine to post to a public bug tracker.  If an evince developer or
packager wants to see the file, i can check with the original author
of the file to see if this document (or an anonymized version) can be
published or at least shown to the developers.  Please let me know if
i should pursue this.

Thanks for maintaining evince in debian,

       --dkg

0 dkg at squeak:~$ evince tmp/foo.pdf >/dev/null 2>tmp/evince-output
0 dkg at squeak:~$ hd tmp/evince-output 
00000000  45 72 72 6f 72 20 28 35  34 39 38 36 29 3a 20 55  |Error (54986): U|
00000010  6e 6b 6e 6f 77 6e 20 6f  70 65 72 61 74 6f 72 20  |nknown operator |
00000020  27 e6 9d 39 42 8b bd 27  0a 45 72 72 6f 72 20 28  |'..9B..'.Error (|
00000030  35 34 39 38 38 29 3a 20  55 6e 6b 6e 6f 77 6e 20  |54988): Unknown |
00000040  6f 70 65 72 61 74 6f 72  20 27 51 ad 56 0b 33 05  |operator 'Q.V.3.|
00000050  42 32 27 0a 45 72 72 6f  72 20 28 35 35 30 32 33  |B2'.Error (55023|
00000060  29 3a 20 55 6e 6b 6e 6f  77 6e 20 6f 70 65 72 61  |): Unknown opera|
00000070  74 6f 72 20 27 05 2a d1  d7 3f 03 4f 61 d3 90 9d  |tor '.*..?.Oa...|
00000080  48 24 be b7 ee df 23 f9  3a ec fc 77 84 34 01 fb  |H$....#.:..w.4..|
00000090  23 ce 1f 4a 3d 9c c4 27  0a 45 72 72 6f 72 20 28  |#..J=..'.Error (|
000000a0  35 35 30 32 33 29 3a 20  49 6e 74 65 72 6e 61 6c  |55023): Internal|
000000b0  3a 20 67 6f 74 20 27 45  49 27 20 6f 70 65 72 61  |: got 'EI' opera|
000000c0  74 6f 72 0a 45 72 72 6f  72 20 28 35 34 39 38 36  |tor.Error (54986|
000000d0  29 3a 20 55 6e 6b 6e 6f  77 6e 20 6f 70 65 72 61  |): Unknown opera|
000000e0  74 6f 72 20 27 e6 9d 39  42 8b bd 27 0a 45 72 72  |tor '..9B..'.Err|
000000f0  6f 72 20 28 35 34 39 38  38 29 3a 20 55 6e 6b 6e  |or (54988): Unkn|
00000100  6f 77 6e 20 6f 70 65 72  61 74 6f 72 20 27 51 ad  |own operator 'Q.|
00000110  56 0b 33 05 42 32 27 0a  45 72 72 6f 72 20 28 35  |V.3.B2'.Error (5|
00000120  35 30 32 33 29 3a 20 55  6e 6b 6e 6f 77 6e 20 6f  |5023): Unknown o|
00000130  70 65 72 61 74 6f 72 20  27 05 2a d1 d7 3f 03 4f  |perator '.*..?.O|
00000140  61 d3 90 9d 48 24 be b7  ee df 23 f9 3a ec fc 77  |a...H$....#.:..w|
00000150  84 34 01 fb 23 ce 1f 4a  3d 9c c4 27 0a 45 72 72  |.4..#..J=..'.Err|
00000160  6f 72 20 28 35 35 30 32  33 29 3a 20 49 6e 74 65  |or (55023): Inte|
00000170  72 6e 61 6c 3a 20 67 6f  74 20 27 45 49 27 20 6f  |rnal: got 'EI' o|
00000180  70 65 72 61 74 6f 72 0a                           |perator.|
00000188
0 dkg at squeak:~$ pdfinfo foo.pdf
Title:          Microsoft Word - Foo.doc
Author:         Someone
Creator:        PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2
Producer:       GPL Ghostscript 8.15
CreationDate:   Sun Jun 22 21:39:36 2008
ModDate:        Sun Jun 22 21:39:36 2008
Tagged:         no
Pages:          16
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      612 x 792 pts (letter)
File size:      232720 bytes
Optimized:      no
PDF version:    1.4
0 dkg at squeak:~$ 




- -- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (200, 'unstable'), (101, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages evince depends on:
ii  gconf2                 2.22.0-1          GNOME configuration database syste
ii  gnome-icon-theme       2.22.0-1          GNOME Desktop icon theme
ii  libart-2.0-2           2.3.20-2          Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0            1.22.0-1          The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libbonobo2-0           2.22.0-1          Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0         2.22.0-1          The Bonobo UI library
ii  libc6                  2.7-10            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcairo2              1.6.4-1+b1        The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libdbus-1-3            1.2.1-2           simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2       0.76-1            simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdjvulibre21         3.5.20-6          Runtime support for the DjVu image
ii  libfontconfig1         2.5.0-2           generic font configuration library
ii  libfreetype6           2.3.5-1+lenny1    FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  libgcc1                1:4.3.1-2         GCC support library
ii  libgconf2-4            2.22.0-1          GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglade2-0            1:2.6.2-1         library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0           2.16.3-2          The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome-keyring0      2.22.2-1          GNOME keyring services library
ii  libgnome2-0            2.20.1.1-1        The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0      2.20.1.1-1        A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeui-0           2.20.1.1-1        The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0         1:2.22.0-3        GNOME Virtual File System (runtime
ii  libgtk2.0-0            2.12.9-3          The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libice6                2:1.0.4-1         X11 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  libjpeg62              6b-14             The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG 
ii  libkpathsea4           2007.dfsg.1-4     TeX Live: path search library for 
ii  libnautilus-extension1 2.20.0-4          libraries for nautilus components 
ii  liborbit2              1:2.14.13-0.1     libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpango1.0-0          1.20.2-2          Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpixman-1-0          0.10.0-2          pixel-manipulation library for X a
ii  libpng12-0             1.2.27-1          PNG library - runtime
ii  libpoppler-glib3       0.8.2-2           PDF rendering library (GLib-based 
ii  libpopt0               1.10-3            lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  libsm6                 2:1.0.3-1+b1      X11 Session Management library
ii  libspectre1            0.2.0.ds-1        Library for rendering Postscript d
ii  libstdc++6             4.3.1-2           The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  libtiff4               3.8.2-10          Tag Image File Format (TIFF) libra
ii  libx11-6               2:1.1.4-2         X11 client-side library
ii  libxml2                2.6.32.dfsg-2     GNOME XML library
ii  libxrender1            1:0.9.4-1         X Rendering Extension client libra
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-12 compression library - runtime

Versions of packages evince recommends:
ii  dbus-x11                      1.2.1-2    simple interprocess messaging syst

- -- no debconf information

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