CVE-2021-40786
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 memory corruption vulnerability due to insecure handling of a malicious file, potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability.
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 confidenceAdobe Premiere Elements contains a memory corruption vulnerability caused by insecure handling of malicious files. The vulnerability allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user but requires user interaction, such as opening a specially crafted 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate Adobe Premiere Elements installationOpen Windows Settings > Apps & Features (or Programs and Features in Control Panel) and search for 'Adobe Premiere Elements' in the installed programs list.Affected if Adobe Premiere Elements appears in the installed programs list.
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Determine installed version numberWith Adobe Premiere Elements selected or right-clicked in the programs list, look for the Version column entry, or click on the program and select 'Uninstall/Change' to view version information in the installer window.Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 2021.4 (for example, 2021, 2021.1, 2021.2, or 2021.3).
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Confirm version is in vulnerable rangeCompare your installed version against the affected range: any version below 2021.4 is considered vulnerable to this CVE.Affected if Your installed version is 2021.3 or earlier, meaning the version number is less than 2021.4.
You are affected only if Adobe Premiere Elements is installed AND the installed version is 2021.3 or earlier (versions below 2021.4), though exploitation additionally requires a user to open a specially crafted malicious file.
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
Apply the vendor patch from Adobe to update to a patched version of Premiere Elements. Avoid opening files from untrusted sources as a general precaution.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021.4 or later
- Open Adobe Premiere Elements and go to Help > About Premiere Elements to check your current version number
- If the version is earlier than 2021.4, open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- Navigate to the Apps tab and find Adobe Premiere Elements in your installed apps
- Click Update to install the latest available version, or manually download the update from helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements.html
- After updating, verify the version by going to Help > About Premiere Elements confirms version 2021.4 or later
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-2021-40786 — 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-2021-40786 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