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Creative CloudApplication · Adobe

CVE-2021-28581

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2021-09-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.3 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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 3.5 (and earlier) is affected by an uncontrolled search path vulnerability that could result in elevation of privileges. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must log on to the attacker's local machine.

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 3.5 and earlier contains an uncontrolled search path vulnerability (likely DLL hijacking) where the application loads libraries from untrusted locations. An attacker with local machine access can place a malicious library in a search path location, which will be loaded when a victim logs onto that machine, resulting in privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop to a version newer than 3.5 that includes the security patch. As a defensive measure, ensure strict DLL search path ordering and avoid logging into untrusted or shared machines.

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:<= 5.3

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check installed Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop version
    Open Windows Settings > Apps & Features, find Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop, and note the version number. Alternatively, check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Creative Cloud for the DisplayVersion value.
    Affected if Version is 3.5 or earlier, or version 5.3 or lower as listed in affected versions
  2. Identify Creative Cloud Desktop executable location
    Locate the main Creative Cloud Desktop executable (Creative Cloud Desktop.exe) by searching in Program Files or Program Files (x86)\Adobe. Note the installation directory path.
    Affected if The application is installed in a standard Program Files location, indicating standard DLL search paths apply which may be exploitable
  3. Inspect common DLL search path locations for suspicious files
    Check the following locations for unknown or recently added DLL files that could be used for hijacking: the Creative Cloud installation folder, the Windows System32 folder, and the user profile Downloads folder. Use PowerShell: Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud' -Filter '*.dll' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Name, LastWriteTime
    Affected if Unexpected DLL files exist in the Creative Cloud installation directory or related search paths, especially if they were created close to the time of the last user logon

Your environment is affected if Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop version 3.5 or earlier (or version 5.3 or lower) is installed, as the application loads libraries from untrusted search paths making it vulnerable to DLL hijacking.

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 5.3
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop to a version newer than 3.5 that includes the security patch. As a defensive measure, ensure strict DLL search path ordering and avoid logging into untrusted or shared machines.

Recommended fix High confidence

Creative Cloud Desktop 5.4 or later (latest available version)

  1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop application
  2. Navigate to the account or settings area
  3. Check for available updates, or manually download the latest Creative Cloud Desktop from adobe.com
  4. Install Creative Cloud Desktop version 5.4 or later
  5. Restart the application and verify the update was applied

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
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2021-28581 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