CVE-2021-42267
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 Animate version 21.0.9 (and earlier) is affected by a memory corruption vulnerability due to insecure handling of a malicious FLA 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 · high confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Animate versions 21.0.9 and earlier when parsing specially crafted FLA files. The insecure handling of the FLA file format leads to memory corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation requires user interaction to open a malicious FLA 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<= 21.0.9CVSS 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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Verify Adobe Animate installationCheck for Adobe Animate on the system by looking in standard installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Animate 2021\ or by viewing installed programs in Windows Settings or Control Panel.Affected if Adobe Animate is installed on the system
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Determine installed Adobe Animate versionOpen Adobe Animate and navigate to Help > About Adobe Animate to display the exact version number, or locate the application executable in the installation folder and view its properties.Affected if The displayed version is 21.0.9 or any version lower than 21.0.9
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Confirm vulnerability trigger conditionThis vulnerability is triggered specifically when Adobe Animate parses a specially crafted FLA file. The vulnerability requires user interaction - the victim must open a malicious FLA file.Affected if A user has Adobe Animate version 21.0.9 or earlier installed AND opens a malicious FLA file from an untrusted source
You are affected if Adobe Animate version 21.0.9 or earlier is installed on your system and you open specially crafted FLA 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 · scopedUpdate Adobe Animate to the latest patched version. Until patched, exercise extreme caution with FLA files from untrusted sources and consider disabling file associations or implementing additional file scanning controls.
Adobe Animate version 21.0.10 or later
- Close any running instances of Adobe Animate
- Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to adobe.com/downloads
- Navigate to Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) in your installed apps
- Click on Update or Install to get the latest version
- Verify the installed version is 21.0.10 or later by opening Animate and going to Help > About Adobe Animate
- Ensure you only open FLA files from trusted sources to mitigate social engineering aspects of this vulnerability
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-42267 — 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-2021-42267 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