Photoshop CcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2019-7970

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 20.0.5 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
Adobe Photoshop CC versions 19.1.8 and earlier and 20.0.5 and earlier have a type confusion 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 Photoshop CC versions 19.1.8 and earlier and 20.0.5 and earlier contain a type confusion vulnerability that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of object types in memory, potentially allowing an attacker to manipulate memory references and achieve code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Photoshop CC to version 19.1.9 or later (for the 19.x branch) or version 20.0.6 or later (for the 20.x branch). Alternatively, apply the available security patches from Adobe.

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
Photoshop CcApplication
Affected:<= 19.1.8>= 20.0, <= 20.0.5

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 Photoshop CC installation
    Open Adobe Photoshop CC, go to Help > About Photoshop, or check the application file properties (right-click Photoshop.exe > Properties > Details) to find the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version is 19.1.8 or earlier, or 20.0.5 or earlier
  2. Confirm version number
    Note the full version string displayed (for example, 19.1.8.12345 or 20.0.5.12345)
    Affected if Version starts with 19.1.8 or lower in the 19.x branch, or 20.0.5 or lower in the 20.x branch
  3. Determine branch and compare to affected range
    For 19.x branch: if version is 19.1.8 or earlier, it is affected. For 20.x branch: if version is 20.0.5 or earlier, it is affected
    Affected if The version falls within <= 19.1.8 OR >= 20.0.0 and <= 20.0.5

You are affected if your installed Photoshop CC version is 19.1.8 or earlier in the 19.x branch, or 20.0.5 or earlier in the 20.x branch.

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 20.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Adobe Photoshop CC to version 19.1.9 or later (for the 19.x branch) or version 20.0.6 or later (for the 20.x branch). Alternatively, apply the available security patches from Adobe.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Photoshop CC 2018 (19.1.9+) or Photoshop CC 2019 (20.0.6+)

  1. Identify your current Photoshop CC version via Help > About Photoshop
  2. If using version 19.x (Photoshop CC 2018), upgrade to version 19.1.9 or later
  3. If using version 20.x (Photoshop CC 2019), upgrade to version 20.0.6 or later
  4. Download the updated version from the official Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or get.adobe.com/photoshop
  5. Close Photoshop completely before installing the update
  6. Run the Adobe Creative Cloud installer and allow the Photoshop update to complete
  7. Restart Photoshop and verify the version under Help > About Photoshop
Caveat Adobe patch updates typically preserve user preferences; major version upgrades may require re-activation of licenses

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

Fix this in Photoshop Cc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-7970 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