Character AnimatorApplication · Adobe

CVE-2019-7870

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.1 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
Adobe Character Animator versions 2.1 and earlier have an insecure library loading (dll hijacking) vulnerability. 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 · high confidence

Adobe Character Animator versions 2.1 and earlier are vulnerable to insecure library loading (DLL hijacking), where the application loads dynamic-link libraries from locations controllable by attackers, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply the vendor security update from Adobe to obtain a patched version of Character Animator; until then, ensure the application runs from trusted directories and consider DLL search order hardening as a defensive measure.

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
Character AnimatorApplication
Affected:<= 2.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Identify installed Adobe Character Animator version
    Open Adobe Character Animator, go to Help > About Character Animator, or check the installed version in Windows Programs and Features
    Affected if The version listed is 2.1 or any version number lower than 2.1 (such as 2.0, 1.5, 1.0)
  2. Verify executable location
    Locate the Character Animator executable file (.exe), typically found in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Character Animator CC (or similar path), right-click the exe and view Properties to confirm the installation directory
    Affected if The application is installed or run from a directory that is writable by standard users or a network share accessible to untrusted users
  3. Check for presence of vulnerable DLL loading behavior
    Monitor Character Animator startup using Process Monitor (ProcMon) from Sysinternals, filter by the Character Animator process name and look for DLL load events that fail or load from unexpected paths
    Affected if The application attempts to load DLLs from paths outside the application directory, particularly from user-writable locations like the current working directory, temp folders, or network paths

You are affected if Adobe Character Animator version 2.1 or earlier is installed and the application loads DLLs from locations that untrusted users could control, allowing potential DLL hijacking.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor security update from Adobe to obtain a patched version of Character Animator; until then, ensure the application runs from trusted directories and consider DLL search order hardening as a defensive measure.

Fix this in Character Animator Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-7870 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2019-7870 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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