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Creative CloudApplication · Adobe

CVE-2020-9669

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-07-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.1 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 Creative Cloud Desktop Application versions 5.1 and earlier have a lack of exploit mitigations 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 confidence

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application versions 5.1 and earlier contain a vulnerability due to missing or insufficient exploit mitigations (such as ASLR, DEP, or other runtime protections). This allows an attacker to escalate privileges after initial access, potentially achieving administrator or SYSTEM-level control on affected Windows systems.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application to version 5.2 or later to obtain the security mitigations. In enterprise environments, deploy via patch management tooling after validating application compatibility.

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
Creative CloudApplication
Affected:<= 5.1

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
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. Verify Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop is installed
    Check for the presence of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application on the Windows system. Common installation paths include C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud\CCXProcess\ or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud\. Alternatively, check Add/Remove Programs or the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Adobe Creative Cloud'.
    Affected if Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed version number
    Right-click on the Creative Cloud Desktop executable (CCXProcess.exe or Creative Cloud.exe) located in the installation folder, select Properties, and view the Details tab for the Product Version. Alternatively, query the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Creative Cloud for the value of Version or InstallVersion.
    Affected if The version displayed is 5.1 or an earlier version number (such as 5.0, 4.x, etc.)
  3. Confirm the operating system is Windows
    Verify the system is running a Windows operating system (Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or later). This vulnerability specifically affects Windows systems as noted in the CVE description regarding administrator or SYSTEM-level control on Windows.
    Affected if The system is running Windows and meets the previous two conditions
  4. Compare against affected version range
    Review the identified version number against the affected range: any version <= 5.1 is vulnerable. Versions prior to 5.1 (including 5.0, 4.9, 4.8, etc.) and version 5.1 itself are all within the affected range.
    Affected if The installed Creative Cloud Desktop version is 5.1 or earlier

A system is affected if Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application version 5.1 or earlier is installed on a Windows machine, as these versions lack the required ASLR, DEP, and other runtime exploit mitigations that were added in version 5.2.

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 5.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application to version 5.2 or later to obtain the security mitigations. In enterprise environments, deploy via patch management tooling after validating application compatibility.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application version 5.3 or later (upgrade from 5.1 or earlier)

  1. Navigate to the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or visit https://creativecloud.adobe.com
  2. Locate the update option within the application or download the latest Creative Cloud Desktop Application from Adobe's official website
  3. Ensure you have administrator privileges on your system before initiating the update
  4. Update to version 5.3 or later which contains the security fix for CVE-2020-9669
  5. After updating, verify the installed version by accessing the Creative Cloud desktop app settings or 'About' section
Caveat Standard Adobe Creative Cloud update; ensure compatible operating system (Windows 10 version 1809 or later, macOS 10.14 or later recommended)

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

Fix this in Creative Cloud 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

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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-2020-9669 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