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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Penguincoder@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

Literally one of the worst formats I deal with daily, from a security standpoint are PDFs. Very useful and predictable for the end user; yes, but very dangerous for the capabilities it allows.

Dangerzone works like this: You give it a document that you don't know if you can trust (for example, an email attachment). Inside of a sandbox, Dangerzone converts the document to a PDF (if it isn't already one), and then converts the PDF into raw pixel data: a huge list of RGB color values for each page. Then, in a separate sandbox, Dangerzone takes this pixel data and converts it back into a PDF.

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[-] fearout@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So it basically rasterizes it? I wonder how it affects file size

[-] klangcola@reddthat.com 8 points 1 year ago

No mention of OCR? Copy-pasting links or data will be a joy..

[-] gromnar@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

There is an optional Ocr pass, from what I understand

[-] ASK_ME_ABOUT_LOOM@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Oh, I think you already know.

[-] Penguincoder@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, definitely increases the size and removes some functionality that others may rely on. But for presentation of content which is what a PDF SHOULD BE, then it has typically worked fine. I've been using pandoc and some home grown scripts to do this sort of thing for a while.

[-] Blackbird@infosec.pub 3 points 1 year ago

Cool concept.

[-] GhostMagician@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

This is looking like it'll be a valuable tool I'll use frequently.

[-] EastEndLatte@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I don’t know the pdf format very well, is it possible to just drop a few commands that make it vulnerable?

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this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
47 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

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