Participant

Question

Adobe Reader protected mode conflicts with McAfee DLP

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
January 30, 2019
4 replies
4209 views

What is the effectiveness of Protected mode of Adobe reader?... Secondly can Adobe Reader protected mode be turned off to prevent conflicts with McAfee products?

V

vincent_3438

Participant

Hi there,

Was wondering if we found the solution? Cause i am facing the issue with Printing protection getting this issue, the workaround is to upgrade to 64bit or remove Printing module for Adobe PDF.

We cannot do either because some users uses 32bit for their day to day work and we have to protect our data via Printing as well.

This is the article that talks about the incompatability:

https://thrive.trellix.com/s/article/000014627?language=ja

Did Adobe get back to you on how to fix this?

Thanks!

AnandSri

Legend

Hello @vincent_3438

I hope you're doing well. We apologize for the delayed response and the trouble.

Suggested Workarounds Exist

Upgrade to 64-bit Reader: Adobe’s 64-bit build handles Protected Mode differently and often avoids this conflict.
Remove McAfee Printing Module: Disables the conflicting DLP enforcement, but compromises data protection.

Since you cannot apply either workaround (due to 32-bit dependency and mandatory printing protection), here are alternatives:

Disable Protected Mode at Startup:

Open Reader> Menu > Preferences > Security (Enhanced).
Uncheck Enable Protected Mode at startup.
Restart Reader.
Note: This reduces sandbox protection, so ensure endpoint security is strong.

For more details, see this article: https://adobe.ly/3WRuqYd

Use McAfee Exclusions

In McAfee DLP policy, add Adobe Reader executable (AcroRd32.exe) to the exclusion list for printing protection.
This allows printing without disabling Protected Mode globally.

For enterprise setups, please open a support case to request a custom patch or configuration guidance with the Enterprise Support team.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

I don’t know how to explain this differently.

Protected mode protects your computer from threats.

The threats are unknown.

If you turn it off, you may be vulnerable to an unknown, future, threat.

We cannot predict what next year’s hackers will do.

I suggest that if this concept is puzzling, you read up about “sandboxing”... yes it is a strange world we live in.

_vladm

Participant

You cannot predict what next year's hackers will do, but you already know how to protect from it?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Yes. Did you read about sandboxing?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

You are protecting from UNKNOWN threats. The risk is therefore unknown. Protected mode is a two level protection. Acrobat Reader is made as secure as possible, but protected mode uses a "sandbox" so that even if a new unknown threat breaks into Acrobat Reader, it can't do much damage. Sandboxes are all the rage, but you cannot say what the risk is, only that it is safer. Sandbox (software development) - Wikipedia

W

willyb40427671Author

Participant

Please can you explain what you mean by saying "Protected mode is a two level protection"? By any means have you come across real time examples of cases in which turning protected mode on was helpful.

Secondly, are you saying the solution to the issue is "You can turn off protected mode in preferences. It makes it more vulnerable to unknown threats" I am confused, turning off Protected mode will make adobe reader more vulnerable to the risk we are trying avoid...Please can you clarify the statement?