Why can't Apple just sandbox the damn thing? Run the renderer in a VM, call it a day.
Or just spend a few billion tokens rewriting the whole chain in a memory safe language. This nonsense is inexcusable in 2026
Why can't Apple just sandbox the damn thing? Run the renderer in a VM, call it a day.
Or just spend a few billion tokens rewriting the whole chain in a memory safe language. This nonsense is inexcusable in 2026
I sincerely believe you need much more than one billion tokens to rewrite the entire PDF dependency stack in a memory safe language. I think you underestimate how many features PDF has.
I wish that Apple today was a little more like the Apple that ruthlessly murdered the floppy disc and Flash.
Seriously though, I wonder why nobody really attempted to dethrone PDF yet. How hard can it be (famous last words) to design a document format that allows what people generally expect from a PDF, but without the multimedia and interactive parts that are dangerous?
Because the dangerous parts are not the multimedia and interactive parts. These parts are rarely used. Even if you remove these parts from your PDF reader it’s not a meaningful security improvement. Almost all exploits are in the boring 2D text/graphics/images parts.
Network effect. Most documents are PDF. You would need at least backward compatibility, which would mean opening doors to the existing problem.
Firefox has been working on this and are making good headway over the last few years.
It's sandboxed, not in a VM but using the *OS sandbox/seatbelt. Running all renderers in a separate VM on a consumer phone sounds like a terrible time when you need to stay competitive regarding performance, responsiveness, etc.
it offers just enough cover and deniability. Q.e.d this sub thread.
it's a feature. expect next exploit to also be pdf or image related.
The sandbox is just another layer
A bulletproof vest is just another layer.