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Premiere ElementsApplication · Adobe

CVE-2021-42527

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2021.4 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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 · unedited
Adobe 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 · high confidence

Adobe Premiere Elements contains a memory corruption vulnerability caused by insecure handling of malicious files. The vulnerability allows memory corruption that can potentially lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationUsers should avoid opening untrusted or unknown media files in Premiere Elements. Organizations should monitor for and apply available security patches from Adobe.

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
Premiere ElementsApplication
Affected:< 2021.4

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate Adobe Premiere Elements installation
    Check common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 2021\ or look for the application in Start Menu. The main executable is typically named Adobe Premiere Elements.exe
    Affected if Application is installed in any location
  2. Determine installed version number
    Right-click the Adobe Premiere Elements executable, select Properties, then view the Details tab to find the Product Version. Alternatively, open Premiere Elements and go to Help > About Adobe Premiere Elements
    Affected if Version displayed is lower than 2021.4 (for example, 2021, 2020, etc.)
  3. Check Windows Registry for version
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Premiere Elements\ or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Premiere Elements\ and read the Version or InstallVersion value
    Affected if Registry shows version less than 2021.4 or the key is absent indicating an older installation
  4. Assess exposure to untrusted media files
    Determine whether Premiere Elements is used to open files from untrusted or unknown sources, or if the system is shared with users who may open such files
    Affected if The vulnerable version (< 2021.4) is used to process media files from untrusted or unknown sources

You are affected if Adobe Premiere Elements version is installed and it is lower than 2021.4, and the application is used to open media files (especially from untrusted sources).

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2021.4 or later
Fixed in 2021.4
Interim mitigation

Users should avoid opening untrusted or unknown media files in Premiere Elements. Organizations should monitor for and apply available security patches from Adobe.

Recommended fix High confidence

Premiere Elements 2021.4

  1. Navigate to the Adobe Premiere Elements download page at helpx.adobe.com
  2. Locate and download Premiere Elements version 2021.4 (or the latest 2021 version available)
  3. Ensure you back up any existing project files (.prproj) and presets before proceeding
  4. Run the installer for the new version
  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
  6. Launch Premiere Elements 2021.4 and verify that the application runs without errors
  7. Re-import any custom presets or settings from your previous installation if needed
Caveat Minor version within same release year; minimal risk of breaking changes; standard backup of projects recommended

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Premiere Elements Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $6,920
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-42527 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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