CVE-2020-3788
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 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 confidenceA 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 through specially crafted files allows attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution on affected systems, as indicated by the critical CVSS 9.8 score.
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>= 21.0, <= 21.1>= 20.0, <= 20.0.8CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Adobe Photoshop is installedOn Windows, check C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version] or look in Add/Remove Programs. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Photoshop.Affected if Adobe Photoshop is not installed means not affected.
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Find installed Photoshop version on WindowsOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop (or HKEY_CURRENT_USER for per-user installs). Check the 'Version' value.Affected if Version falls within 20.0 to 20.0.8 (CC 2019) or 21.0 to 21.1 (2020).
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Find installed Photoshop version on macOSRight-click Adobe Photoshop.app, select Get Info, and read the Version number from the info window.Affected if Version falls within 20.0 to 20.0.8 (CC 2019) or 21.0 to 21.1 (2020).
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Check Photoshop version from within the applicationOpen Photoshop, go to Help > About Photoshop (Windows) or Photoshop > About Photoshop (macOS). The version string displays in the dialog.Affected if Version displays as 20.0.x where x is 0-8, or 21.0.x where x is 0-1.
You are affected if Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 version 20.0 through 20.0.8, or Photoshop 2020 version 21.0 through 21.1 is installed on your system.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Adobe Photoshop to version 20.0.9 or later for CC 2019, or version 21.2 or later for Photoshop 2020. Until patched, avoid opening untrusted Photoshop files from unknown sources.
Photoshop 2020: 21.2 or later; Photoshop CC 2019: 20.0.9 or later
- Verify current Photoshop version by navigating to Help > About Photoshop
- For Photoshop 2020 (versions 21.0 through 21.1): Upgrade to version 21.2 or later by checking for updates via Help > Updates or downloading from adobe.com
- For Photoshop CC 2019 (versions 20.0 through 20.0.8): Upgrade to version 20.0.9 or later by checking for updates via Help > Updates or downloading from adobe.com
- After upgrading, restart Photoshop and verify the version via Help > About Photoshop
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3788 — 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-2020-3788 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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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.
- 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