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IllustratorApplication · Adobe

CVE-2021-28593

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 25.2.3 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Illustrator version 25.2.3 (and earlier) is affected by a Use After Free vulnerability when parsing a specially crafted file. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to disclose potential sensitive information in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

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 Illustrator versions 25.2.3 and earlier contain a Use After Free vulnerability triggered when parsing specially crafted files. The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to potentially disclose sensitive information from freed memory that the application continues to reference. Exploitation requires user interaction—the victim must open a malicious file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Illustrator to version 25.2.4 or later. Avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited files, and implement endpoint detection to monitor for attempts to open suspicious file types.

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
IllustratorApplication
Affected:<= 25.2.3

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 Illustrator is installed
    Check for Adobe Illustrator in the system: On Windows, look in Program Files/Program Files (x86) or check registry keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for Adobe Illustrator entries. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Illustrator.app.
    Affected if Adobe Illustrator is found on the system
  2. Identify installed Adobe Illustrator version
    On Windows, right-click the Illustrator.exe file, select Properties, and check the Details tab for Product Version. On macOS, right-click Adobe Illustrator.app, select Get Info, and check the Version field. Alternatively, open Illustrator and go to Help > About Adobe Illustrator.
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or is <= 25.2.3
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare the identified version number to 25.2.3. Versions 25.2.3 and earlier (including 25.x, 24.x, 23.x and older major versions) are within the affected range.
    Affected if Installed version is 25.2.3 or any earlier version such as 25.2.2, 25.2.1, 25.2, 25.1, 25.0, 24.x, 23.x, etc.

A user is affected if Adobe Illustrator is installed and the installed version is 25.2.3 or any earlier version (any version <= 25.2.3).

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 25.2.3
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Illustrator to version 25.2.4 or later. Avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited files, and implement endpoint detection to monitor for attempts to open suspicious file types.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Illustrator 25.2.4 (or later 2021 release)

  1. Navigate to the Adobe support website and download Adobe Illustrator version 25.2.4 (or the latest 2021 release).
  2. Close any running instances of Adobe Illustrator.
  3. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to upgrade the software.
  4. After installation, restart your computer and launch Illustrator to verify the update.
Caveat Verify compatibility of third‑party plugins and scripts with the new version before production use.

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

Fix this in Illustrator Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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-2021-28593 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