CVE-2020-9683
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 versions Photoshop CC 2019, and Photoshop 2020 have an out-of-bounds read 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 · moderate confidenceAdobe Photoshop CC 2019 and 2020 contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows reading data beyond allocated memory boundaries. This type of memory corruption flaw can be triggered by specially crafted image files, potentially enabling an attacker to read sensitive memory contents and achieve arbitrary code execution.
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<= 21.2<= 20.0.9CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Confirm Adobe Photoshop is installedCheck for Photoshop installation in typical locations: Windows (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 20XX) or Mac (/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 20XX), or use system inventory toolsAffected if Photoshop is not installed on the system
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Determine the installed Photoshop versionOpen Photoshop, go to Help > About Photoshop (Windows) or Photoshop > About Photoshop (Mac), or check the version in the application properties via Control Panel or System PreferencesAffected if The displayed version matches or is earlier than 21.2 (2020) or 20.0.9 (CC)
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Identify the specific Photoshop release (2020 or CC)Note whether the product is labeled as Photoshop CC (older naming) or Photoshop 2020 (newer naming) to map to the correct affected version rangeAffected if The product is Photoshop CC version 20.0.9 or earlier, or Photoshop 2020 version 21.2 or earlier
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Verify the attack surface existsCheck if the system has the capability to open PSD or other image files in Photoshop - this vulnerability is triggered when opening specially crafted image filesAffected if An affected Photoshop version is installed and the application can open image files
You are affected if Adobe Photoshop CC version 20.0.9 or earlier, or Photoshop 2020 version 21.2 or earlier is installed and the application can be used to open image files.
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.
From vendor dataApply the vendor-supplied security update for Adobe Photoshop to the affected versions. Avoid opening untrusted or suspicious PSD files and other image formats in Photoshop until patches are applied.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9683 — 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-2020-9683 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