CVE-2021-40785
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 Premiere Elements 20210809.daily.2242976 (and earlier) is affected by a Null pointer dereference vulnerability when parsing a specially crafted file. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve an application denial-of-service 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 confidenceAdobe Premiere Elements contains a null pointer dereference vulnerability when parsing a specially crafted file. An attacker can cause the application to crash by crafting a malicious file that triggers the null pointer dereference during parsing, resulting in denial of service. User interaction is required in that the victim must open the malicious file.
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< 2021.4CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Verify Adobe Premiere Elements is installedCheck for the application in the system. On Windows, look for 'Adobe Premiere Elements' in Program Files or Program Files (x86), or check the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Adobe Premiere Elements'. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Premiere Elements.app.Affected if The application is not found on the system.
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Determine installed version numberOn Windows, open the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Premiere Elements\ or check the uninstall registry key mentioned above for the version string. Alternatively, launch Premiere Elements and go to Help > About Adobe Premiere Elements to display the version number.Affected if Unable to determine the version number.
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Compare version against affected rangeThe affected versions are those prior to 2021.4. If your version shows 2021.4 or higher (for example, 2021.4, 2022.x, etc.), you are not in the affected range. If the version shows 2021.3, 2021.2, 2021.1, 2021, or any version prior to the 2021.4 release, you are affected.Affected if The installed version is less than 2021.4 (for example, 2021.3, 2021.2, 2021.1, or earlier).
You are affected if Adobe Premiere Elements is installed and the version is below 2021.4, as the null pointer dereference triggers during file parsing when opening specially crafted 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.
dbcve · scoped2021.4
Update Adobe Premiere Elements to a version later than 20210809.daily.2242976. Users should avoid opening files from untrusted sources to mitigate the user interaction requirement.
Premiere Elements 2021.4 or later
- 1. Close Adobe Premiere Elements if it is currently running
- 2. Open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or visit adobe.com
- 3. Check for available updates to Premiere Elements
- 4. Download and install Premiere Elements version 2021.4 or later
- 5. After installation, verify the version by opening Premiere Elements and checking About Premiere Elements in the Help menu
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-40785 — 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-2021-40785 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