diff --git a/src/applications/files/config/PhabricatorFilesConfigOptions.php b/src/applications/files/config/PhabricatorFilesConfigOptions.php
--- a/src/applications/files/config/PhabricatorFilesConfigOptions.php
+++ b/src/applications/files/config/PhabricatorFilesConfigOptions.php
@@ -134,9 +134,11 @@
         ->setDescription(
           pht(
             "Configure which uploaded file types may be viewed directly ".
-            "in the browser. Other file types will be downloaded instead ".
-            "of displayed. This is mainly a usability consideration, since ".
-            "browsers tend to freak out when viewing very large binary files.".
+            "in the browser. Other types will be downloaded instead of ".
+            "displayed. This is a usability and security consideration, ".
+            "since browsers tend to freak out when viewing very large ".
+            "binary files, and some types may be vulnerable to XSS attacks ".
+            "when viewed in a browser.".
             "\n\n".
             "The keys in this map are viewable MIME types; the values are ".
             "the MIME types they are delivered as when they are viewed in ".
diff --git a/src/applications/files/document/PhabricatorPDFDocumentEngine.php b/src/applications/files/document/PhabricatorPDFDocumentEngine.php
--- a/src/applications/files/document/PhabricatorPDFDocumentEngine.php
+++ b/src/applications/files/document/PhabricatorPDFDocumentEngine.php
@@ -14,14 +14,16 @@
   }
 
   protected function canRenderDocumentType(PhabricatorDocumentRef $ref) {
-    // Since we just render a link to the document anyway, we don't need to
-    // check anything fancy in config to see if the MIME type is actually
-    // viewable.
+    $viewable_types = PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('files.viewable-mime-types');
+    $viewable_types = array_keys($viewable_types);
 
-    return $ref->hasAnyMimeType(
-      array(
-        'application/pdf',
-      ));
+    $pdf_types = array(
+      'application/pdf',
+    );
+
+    return
+      $ref->hasAnyMimeType($viewable_types) &&
+      $ref->hasAnyMimeType($pdf_types);
   }
 
   protected function newDocumentContent(PhabricatorDocumentRef $ref) {