CVE-2021-42264
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 Pro 15.4.1 (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 Pro 15.4.1 and earlier contain a null pointer dereference vulnerability in their file parsing logic. When the application parses a specially crafted malicious file, it attempts to dereference a null pointer, causing the application to crash and resulting in a denial-of-service condition.
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< 15.4.2CVSS 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 Pro versionOpen Premiere Pro and go to Help > About Adobe Premiere Pro (Windows) or Premiere Pro > About Adobe Premiere Pro (macOS). The version number displayed in the about dialog is your installed version.Affected if The version shown is 15.4.1 or earlier, or if no version is displayed but the application is any release prior to the 15.4.2 update
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Confirm file parsing is accessiblePremiere Pro must be able to open and parse media files for this vulnerability to be triggered. This is a core application function available by default when the file import feature is operational.Affected if The application can import or open media files (this is the default state)
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Check for untrusted file handlingThe vulnerability is triggered specifically when parsing a specially crafted malicious file. There is no configuration setting to verify this vulnerability exists - it resides in the core file parsing logic.Affected if Users may open files from untrusted or unknown sources using Premiere Pro
The environment is affected if Adobe Premiere Pro version 15.4.1 or earlier is installed and the application is used to open media files, particularly from untrusted sources.
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 · scoped15.4.2
Update Adobe Premiere Pro to a version later than 15.4.1. Until the update is available, avoid opening files from untrusted sources.
Premiere Pro 15.4.2
- Launch the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application on your system
- Navigate to the 'Apps' section in Creative Cloud
- Find Adobe Premiere Pro in the list of installed applications
- Click on the 'Update' button next to Premiere Pro if an update is available, or manually check for updates
- Alternatively, open Premiere Pro and go to Help > Check for Updates
- Follow the on-screen prompts to download and install version 15.4.2 or later
- Restart Premiere Pro after the update completes
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-42264 — 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-2021-42264 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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- 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
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