Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2021-42528
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 · uneditedXMP Toolkit 2021.07 (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 confidenceXMP Toolkit versions 2021.07 and earlier contain a null pointer dereference vulnerability in the file parsing logic. When processing a specially crafted malicious file, the parser attempts to dereference a null pointer, causing the application to crash and resulting in denial-of-service. Exploitation requires a victim to open the 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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 10.0<= 2021.07CVSS 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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Identify Adobe XMP Toolkit SDK installationSearch for XMP Toolkit installation directories or libraries. Common locations include /opt/, /usr/local/, or project directories that bundle the SDK. Look for files named libxmp.*, XMP Toolkit.dll, or similar XMP-related binaries.Affected if XMP Toolkit SDK version is found and is 2021.07 or earlier
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Determine installed XMP Toolkit versionCheck version information in SDK headers, library metadata, or associated version files. If the SDK is bundled with an application, check the application's included XMP library version. Run 'strings' on libxmp shared libraries to locate version strings.Affected if Version string shows 2021.07 or lower, or no version is found (older installation)
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Check Debian 10.0 for XMP-related packagesOn Debian 10.0 systems, run 'dpkg -l | grep -i xmp' or 'apt list --installed | grep -i xmp' to list any installed packages related to XMP Toolkit.Affected if Any XMP-related package from Debian 10.0 repositories is installed
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Verify file parsing modules are in useIdentify applications or services that process XMP metadata from files. Check which applications on the system use XMP parsing functionality by examining linked libraries with 'ldd' or examining application dependencies.Affected if Applications processing untrusted files use XMP Toolkit for metadata parsing
You are affected if Adobe XMP Toolkit SDK version 2021.07 or earlier, or any XMP-related package on Debian 10.0, is installed and processes files 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.
From vendor dataUpdate XMP Toolkit to a version later than 2021.07. Until an update is available, avoid opening files from untrusted sources.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-42528 — 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-2021-42528 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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