CVE-2021-43018
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 Photoshop versions 23.0.2 and 22.5.4 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious JPG 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 confidenceAn out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in Adobe Photoshop when parsing maliciously crafted JPG files. By opening a specially crafted JPG file, an attacker can trigger memory corruption that leads to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
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>= 22.0, < 22.5.4>= 23.0.0, < 23.0.2CVSS 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
- 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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Determine installed Photoshop versionOpen Photoshop, then go to Help > About Photoshop. The version number is displayed in the dialog that opens.Affected if The version shown is 22.0 through 22.5.3, or 23.0.0 through 23.0.1.
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Alternative version check via file propertiesIn the Adobe Photoshop installation folder, right-click Photoshop.exe, select Properties, and view the Details tab to see the Product Version.Affected if The version listed falls within 22.0.x (before 22.5.4) or 23.0.0-23.0.1.
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Confirm the attack surface existsVerify that the Photoshop installation includes JPG file handling capability (standard in all typical Photoshop installations). This is the default; no special modules are required.Affected if Photoshop can open and parse JPG files, which is the default behavior.
A user is affected if they are running Photoshop versions 22.0 through 22.5.3 or 23.0.0 through 23.0.1 and have opened or intend to open untrusted JPG 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 · scoped22.5.423.0.2
Update Adobe Photoshop to a version beyond 23.0.2 or 22.5.4, and exercise caution when opening JPG files from untrusted sources.
Photoshop 22.5.4 or later for 22.x branch; Photoshop 23.0.2 or later for 23.x branch
- 1. Launch Adobe Photoshop
- 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates to open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- 3. In the Creative Cloud app, locate Photoshop in the list of installed apps
- 4. Click Update to install the latest version
- 5. Alternatively, manually download the fixed version from helpx.adobe.com: Photoshop 22.5.4 for the 22.x branch or Photoshop 23.0.2 (or later) for the 23.x branch
- 6. Restart Photoshop after the update completes
- 7. Verify the installed version by going to Help > About Photoshop
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-43018 — 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-2021-43018 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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