CVE-2021-42526
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 versions 20210809.daily.2242976 and earlier contain a memory corruption vulnerability when handling malicious files. The vulnerability stems from insecure parsing of file data, leading to potential arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as opening a specially crafted 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
- 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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Confirm Adobe Premiere Elements is installedCheck Windows Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Premiere Elements or look for installation folder in Program Files (typically C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements)Affected if Premiere Elements is found on the system
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Retrieve installed version numberRight-click on PremiereElements.exe in the installation folder, select Properties, then Details tab. Alternatively, run: reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Premiere Elements" /v VersionAffected if Version cannot be determined or is older than 2021.4
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Compare version against vulnerability rangeCompare the installed version to the affected range: versions earlier than 20210809.daily.2242976 or any version labeled as < 2021.4. Note that daily build versions like 20210809.daily.2242976 and earlier are vulnerable.Affected if Installed version is 20210809.daily.2242976 or earlier, or shows a version number less than 2021.4
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Verify file handling is usedThis is a file parsing vulnerability that triggers when opening specially crafted media files. The vulnerable code path is exercised whenever the application imports video/audio files.Affected if The software is capable of opening project or media files, which is a standard function of Premiere Elements
If Adobe Premiere Elements is installed with version 20210809.daily.2242976 or earlier (or any version below 2021.4), the system is affected by this vulnerability when processing malicious 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 the latest patched version provided by Adobe. Until patched, advise users to avoid opening files from untrusted sources.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021.4 or later
- Verify current Adobe Premiere Elements version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Premiere Elements
- Close any running instances of Adobe Premiere Elements
- Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to adobe.com/premiere-elements in a web browser
- Locate Adobe Premiere Elements 2021 (or newer version) in the available downloads or purchases
- Download and install the 2021.4 update or newer version of Adobe Premiere Elements
- Restart your computer after installation completes
- Launch Adobe Premiere Elements and confirm the version shows 2021.4 or later by checking Help > About Premiere Elements
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2021-42526 — 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-2021-42526 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