Are text-only data formats safe? or, use this LATEX class file to Pwn your computer
Stephen Checkoway, Hovav Shacham, Eric Rescorla · 2010
We show that malicious TEX, BIBTEX, and METAPOST files can lead to arbitrary code execution, viral infection, denial of service, and data exfiltration, through the file I/O capabilities exposed by TEX’s Turing-complete macro language. This calls into doubt the conventional wisdom view that text-only data formats that do not access the network are likely safe. We build a TEX virus that spreads between documents on the MiKTEX distribution on Windows XP; we demonstrate data exfiltration attacks on web-based LATEX previewer services. 1