Don’t take L ATEX files from strangers
Stephen Checkoway, Hovav Shacham, Eric Rescorla · 2011
TEX, L ATEX, and BibTEX files are a common method of collaboration for computer science professionals. It is widely assumed by users that L ATEX files are safe; that is, that no significant harm can come of running L ATEX on an arbitrary computer. Unfortunately, this is not the case: In this article we describe how to exploit L ATEX to build a virus that spreads between documents on the MiKTEX distribution on Windows XP as well as how to use malicious documents to steal data from web-based L ATEX previewer services. 1