CVE-2019-7962
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 · uneditedAdobe Illustrator CC versions 23.1 and earlier have an insecure library loading (dll hijacking) vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to privilege escalation.
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 confidenceAdobe Illustrator CC versions 23.1 and earlier are vulnerable to insecure library loading (DLL hijacking), where a malicious DLL could be loaded in place of a legitimate one, potentially allowing an attacker to escalate privileges on the targeted system.
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< 24.0CVSS 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:3.1/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate Adobe Illustrator CC installationCheck common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC Support Files\ or use system search to find the executable (Adobe Illustrator.exe)Affected if Adobe Illustrator CC is found on the system
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Determine installed versionRight-click on Adobe Illustrator.exe, select Properties, and view the File version in the Details tab, or run 'Adobe Illustrator.exe -version' if supportedAffected if Version displayed is 23.1 or earlier (any version below 24.0)
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Verify DLL search order vulnerability existsInspect the application directory and adjacent folders for weak file permissions that allow untrusted users to place malicious DLLs, or use Sysinternals Process Monitor to observe DLL loading behavior during Illustrator startupAffected if Application loads DLLs from its working directory or locations with weak permissions, and version is below 24.0
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Check for privilege escalation pathReview the Adobe Illustrator installation folder permissions using icacls or file explorer security tab to confirm if standard users can write to directories that Illustrator loads DLLs fromAffected if Standard users have write access to directories in Illustrator's DLL search path and version is below 24.0
The environment is affected if Adobe Illustrator CC version 23.1 or earlier is installed and the application is vulnerable to untrusted DLL loading due to insecure file permissions in its directory structure.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data24.0
Update Adobe Illustrator CC to a version newer than 23.1 that includes the security patch for this vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-7962 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-7962 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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