CVE-2021-40788
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 · moderate confidenceAdobe Premiere Elements contains a null pointer dereference vulnerability when parsing specially crafted files. The vulnerability causes the application to crash, resulting in denial-of-service. Exploitation requires user interaction, specifically opening a 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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Check if Adobe Premiere Elements is installedOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or macOS Applications folder, and look for Adobe Premiere Elements entryAffected if Adobe Premiere Elements is not found in installed programs
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Determine installed version numberIn Windows: Right-click Adobe Premiere Elements in Programs list, select Properties, and view the Version field. On macOS: Right-click the app in Applications, select Get Info, and check the Version fieldAffected if Version number cannot be determined or is not visible
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Compare version against affected rangeCompare the installed version to the affected range: versions prior to 2021.4 are vulnerable. The 2021.4 update and later are patchedAffected if Installed version is any version prior to 2021.4 (for example: 2021, 2021.1, 2021.2, 2021.3)
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Verify if application is used to open media filesConfirm whether the system user runs Adobe Premiere Elements to import or edit video files from external sourcesAffected if Users routinely open video files from untrusted or unknown sources in Premiere Elements
A user is affected if Adobe Premiere Elements version 2021.4 or earlier is installed and users open video files in the application.
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
Avoid opening files from untrusted sources. Apply vendor-provided patches when available. Consider implementing file validation and sandboxing as additional defense-in-depth measures.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021.4 or later
- 1. Open Adobe Premiere Elements on the affected system
- 2. Navigate to Help > About Premiere Elements (or check the application version in your account/launcher)
- 3. Verify the current installed version number
- 4. If the version is earlier than 2021.4, proceed to upgrade
- 5. Download Adobe Premiere Elements 2021.4 or a later stable release from the official Adobe website (get.adobe.com/premiere-elements) or via the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- 6. Install the update following Adobe's standard installation process
- 7. After installation, verify the new version is 2021.4 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-40788 — 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-2021-40788 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