BridgeApplication · Adobe

CVE-2021-35989

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.0.2 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 Bridge version 11.0.2 (and earlier) is affected by an Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability when parsing a specially crafted file. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve arbitrary code execution 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 Bridge versions 11.0.2 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability when parsing specially crafted files. An unauthenticated attacker can achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user by tricking a victim into opening a malicious file.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Bridge to version 11.0.3 or later. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected files until the patch is applied.

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
BridgeApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.2

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 Bridge is installed
    Check for Adobe Bridge installation: On Windows, look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge [version] or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Bridge [version]. On macOS, check /Applications/Adobe Bridge [version].app
    Affected if Adobe Bridge is present on the system
  2. Retrieve installed Adobe Bridge version
    On Windows, open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Bridge\[version] or use PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Bridge\*' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Version. On macOS, right-click Adobe Bridge.app, select Get Info, and note the Version field.
    Affected if Unable to retrieve version or version cannot be determined
  3. Compare version against CVE threshold
    Compare the installed version number to 11.0.2. Note that versions 11.0.2 and earlier are affected. For example, 11.0.1, 11.0, 10.1.x are all within the affected range.
    Affected if Installed version is 11.0.2 or lower (for example, 11.0.1, 10.1.5, etc.)
  4. Confirm vulnerability trigger condition
    This vulnerability is triggered when Adobe Bridge parses a specially crafted malicious file. Check if the user routinely opens files from untrusted or unknown sources in Adobe Bridge.
    Affected if User opens or previews untrusted files in Adobe Bridge, as this is the attack vector

A user is affected if Adobe Bridge version 11.0.2 or earlier is installed AND the user opens or processes untrusted files in the application.

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 11.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Adobe Bridge to version 11.0.3 or later. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected files until the patch is applied.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Adobe Bridge 11.1 or later

  1. Navigate to the official Adobe website and locate the Adobe Bridge download page
  2. Download the latest version of Adobe Bridge (version 11.1 or later)
  3. Close any running instances of Adobe Bridge
  4. Install the downloaded update following the on-screen prompts
  5. Verify the installed version by opening Adobe Bridge and checking Help > About Adobe Bridge

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

Fix this in Bridge 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-35989 — 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-2021-35989 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