does calling command-line utility from an application create safety issues?

Question

I would like to know if there are dangerous safety/security issues when a application is designed to call a command-line utility that opens a PDF file and yields some information in text files or images.

Answer 1

OS command injection comes to mind. If the user is able to control part of the command line (e.g. "AcroRd32.exe file.pdf") If the attacker can control the name of the file, then you have to add strong white-list validation, so that "AcroRd32.exe file.pdf && format C: && rem .pdf" cannot be injected for example

Answer 2

Yes, calling a command line utility presents extra security concerns: Your application is now only as secure as the command line utility.

As an example, if there is a buffer overflow in the utility, then an attacher might be able to exploit it via your application.