IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2017-11302

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-12-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 12.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in Adobe InDesign 12.1.0 and earlier versions. An exploitable memory corruption vulnerability exists. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe InDesign versions 12.1.0 and earlier allows attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution through crafted files. The vulnerability is exploitable and carries a CRITICAL severity rating due to the potential for complete system compromise.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch by updating Adobe InDesign to a version newer than 12.1.0.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
IndesignApplication
Affected:<= 12.1.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate Adobe InDesign installation
    Search for the InDesign executable (ID.exe on Windows, Adobe InDesign.app on Mac) in typical installation directories such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CC or /Applications/ on macOS
    Affected if InDesign is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed InDesign version
    Right-click the InDesign executable, select Properties, and view the Details tab to see the File Version. Alternatively, open InDesign and go to Help > About Adobe InDesign to display the exact version number
    Affected if The displayed version is 12.1.0 or any version number lower than 12.1.0 (such as 12.0.x, 11.x, or earlier)
  3. Confirm vulnerability applicability
    No additional configuration check is required for this vulnerability - it is triggered simply by opening a specially crafted file in the affected InDesign version
    Affected if The installed InDesign version falls within the affected range of 12.1.0 or earlier

A user is affected if Adobe InDesign version 12.1.0 or any earlier version is installed on their system, as the memory corruption flaw can be triggered when opening maliciously crafted files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 12.1.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patch by updating Adobe InDesign to a version newer than 12.1.0.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Adobe InDesign CC 2018 (version 13.0) or later

  1. 1. Close Adobe InDesign if currently running
  2. 2. Backup any existing InDesign projects and settings
  3. 3. Uninstall the current Adobe InDesign version 12.1.0 or earlier
  4. 4. Download Adobe InDesign CC 2018 (version 13.0) or later from the official Adobe website (get.adobe.com/indesign)
  5. 5. Install the newer version following the on-screen instructions
  6. 6. Verify the installed version by opening InDesign and checking Help > About Adobe InDesign
  7. 7. Ensure the version displayed is 13.0 or higher
Caveat Newer versions may have UI changes and potentially break compatibility with older plugins or scripts; test critical workflows before production use

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-11302 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data