AnimateApplication · Adobe

CVE-2020-9747

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 20.5 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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 Animate version 20.5 (and earlier) is affected by a double free vulnerability when parsing a crafted .fla file, which could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. This vulnerability requires user interaction to exploit.

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 Animate versions 20.5 and earlier contain a double free vulnerability when parsing specially crafted .fla files. An attacker can embed malicious code in a .fla file that, when opened by a user, triggers the double free condition leading to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationUsers should avoid opening .fla files from untrusted sources and update Adobe Animate to the latest patched version when released by Adobe. Organizations may consider using application allowlisting to restrict which executables can run.

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
AnimateApplication
Affected:<= 20.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Adobe Animate is installed
    Check for Adobe Animate in the list of installed programs on Windows (Control Panel > Programs and Features) or use the command 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' in PowerShell to enumerate installed software.
    Affected if Adobe Animate appears in the installed programs list
  2. Identify the installed Adobe Animate version
    Open Adobe Animate and navigate to Help > About Adobe Animate to view the exact version number, or check the Windows registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Animate\InstallVersion for the installed version.
    Affected if The displayed version is 20.5 or any version lower than 20.5 (for example, 20.0, 19.x, etc.)
  3. Confirm the vulnerability trigger condition
    This vulnerability is triggered when Adobe Animate opens a specially crafted .fla file containing malicious code. The vulnerability exists in the .fla file parsing logic.
    Affected if The installed version is 20.5 or earlier AND the user opens .fla files from untrusted sources (the attack requires user interaction to open the malicious file)

You are affected if Adobe Animate version 20.5 or earlier is installed on your system and you open .fla files from untrusted sources, as the double free vulnerability will trigger upon parsing the malicious file.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 20.5
Interim mitigation

Users should avoid opening .fla files from untrusted sources and update Adobe Animate to the latest patched version when released by Adobe. Organizations may consider using application allowlisting to restrict which executables can run.

Fix this in Animate Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9747 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-9747 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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