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Photoshop 2020Application · Adobe

CVE-2020-3785

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 21.1 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 2019 versions 20.0.8 and earlier, and Photoshop 2020 versions 21.1 and earlier have a memory corruption 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

A memory corruption vulnerability exists in Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (versions 20.0.8 and earlier) and Photoshop 2020 (versions 21.1 and earlier). Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution, likely through a specially crafted image file that triggers improper memory handling.

MitigationUpdate Photoshop to version 20.0.9 or later for CC 2019, or version 21.1.1 or later for Photoshop 2020. Given the critical CVSS score (9.8) and code execution impact, prioritize patching immediately.

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 2020Application
Affected:>= 21.0, <= 21.1
Photoshop CcApplication
Affected:>= 20.0, <= 20.0.8

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:3.1/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. Identify installed Photoshop product
    Open Photoshop and go to Help > About Photoshop, or check the application name in your Applications folder (Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop or Mac: /Applications). Look for whether it says 'Photoshop CC 2019' or 'Photoshop 2020'.
    Affected if The installed product is Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 or Adobe Photoshop 2020.
  2. Determine Photoshop CC 2019 version
    In Photoshop CC 2019, go to Help > About Photoshop and note the version number shown (format: 20.0.x). Alternatively, on Windows check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\20.0\Version, or on macOS check the application bundle info.plist.
    Affected if Version is 20.0.8 or earlier (20.0 through 20.0.8).
  3. Determine Photoshop 2020 version
    In Photoshop 2020, go to Help > About Photoshop and note the version number shown (format: 21.x). Alternatively, on Windows check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\21.0\Version, or on macOS check the application bundle info.plist.
    Affected if Version is 21.0 or 21.1.
  4. Confirm vulnerability trigger condition
    This vulnerability is triggered when opening a specially crafted image file. Check if users in your environment routinely open image files from untrusted sources, as exploitation requires such a file to be opened.
    Affected if Users open image files from external or untrusted sources without validation.

You are affected if you have Photoshop CC 2019 version 20.0.8 or earlier, or Photoshop 2020 version 21.0 or 21.1, and users open image 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 21.1
Interim mitigation

Update Photoshop to version 20.0.9 or later for CC 2019, or version 21.1.1 or later for Photoshop 2020. Given the critical CVSS score (9.8) and code execution impact, prioritize patching immediately.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Photoshop CC 2019 version 20.0.9 or later / Photoshop 2020 version 21.2 or later (or migrate to latest available release)

  1. 1. Close Adobe Photoshop if it is currently running.
  2. 2. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application.
  3. 3. Navigate to the 'Apps' section in Creative Cloud.
  4. 4. Find Adobe Photoshop in your installed apps list.
  5. 5. Click on the 'Update' button next to Photoshop if an update is available.
  6. 6. Alternatively, manually download the latest Photoshop version from the official Adobe website.
  7. 7. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the update.
  8. 8. Restart your computer after the update completes.
Caveat Major version upgrades may include feature changes; backup custom presets and settings before updating

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

Fix this in Photoshop 2020 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
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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-2020-3785 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