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Creative Cloud Desktop ApplicationApplication · Adobe

CVE-2020-9670

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 symlink vulnerability 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 · moderate confidence

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application versions 5.1 and earlier contains a symlink vulnerability that allows local attackers to manipulate symbolic links, potentially enabling privilege escalation to gain elevated system access.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application to a version newer than 5.1 to remediate this vulnerability.

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 Cloud Desktop ApplicationApplication
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 Application is installed
    Check for the presence of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop on the system. Look for the application in Program Files (Windows) or Applications folder (Mac), or check the installed programs list via system settings.
    Affected if Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application is installed on the system
  2. Determine the installed version of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop
    Locate the version information for Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop. On Windows, right-click the application in the Start menu and select Properties, or check the version in Add/Remove Programs. On Mac, right-click the app in Applications and select Get Info. Alternatively, run: 'ls "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud\ACC\' on Windows or check the app bundle contents.
    Affected if The installed version cannot be determined or the version is 5.1 or earlier
  3. Compare installed version against affected range
    Review the discovered version number and compare it to the affected range: version 5.1 and earlier. Note that version 5.1 itself is also affected.
    Affected if The installed version is 5.1 or any version lower than 5.1 (for example: 5.0, 4.x, 3.x, etc.)
  4. Assess symlink vulnerability applicability
    The vulnerability involves symlink manipulation that could enable privilege escalation. Since this is a local privilege escalation flaw, verify if the application runs with elevated privileges or if unprivileged users have write access to directories used by the Creative Cloud Desktop application.
    Affected if Unprivileged users can create or modify symbolic links in directories used by the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop service

A system is affected if Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application version 5.1 or earlier is installed, and the symlink vulnerability conditions (unprivileged user access to application directories) are present.

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

Upgrade Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application to a version newer than 5.1 to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application 5.2 or later (latest available version)

  1. Navigate to the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application download page or open the Creative Cloud desktop application
  2. Check the current installed version in the application settings or 'About' section
  3. If the installed version is 5.1 or earlier, download and install the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application from adobe.com or through the application's built-in update feature
  4. Alternatively, uninstall the current version and download the latest version from adobe.com/creativecloud.html
  5. After installation, verify the version number has updated to confirm the patch was applied

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

Fix this in Creative Cloud Desktop Application 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.

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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-2020-9670 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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