dbcve.org
Premiere RushApplication · Adobe

CVE-2021-43022

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.5.16 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 Rush version 1.5.16 (and earlier) is affected by a memory corruption vulnerability due to insecure handling of a malicious PNG 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 Rush versions 1.5.16 and earlier contain a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing specially crafted PNG files. The insecure handling of malicious PNG input can lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user, requiring user interaction (opening the file) to trigger the exploit.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Premiere Rush to the latest patched version beyond 1.5.16. Exercise caution when opening PNG files from untrusted or unknown sources.

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 RushApplication
Affected:<= 1.5.16

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. Verify Adobe Premiere Rush is installed
    Check for installation on Windows in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Rush or on macOS in /Applications/Adobe Premiere Rush. On Windows, run: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Premiere Rush*'}. On macOS, run: ls /Applications | grep -i 'Premiere Rush'
    Affected if Adobe Premiere Rush is found on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    On Windows: Right-click Premiere Rush.exe, select Properties, go to Details tab to view File Version. Alternatively run: (Get-Item 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Rush\Adobe Premiere Rush.exe').VersionInfo.FileVersion. On macOS: Right-click the app, select Get Info, view Version under General, or run: defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ Premiere\ Rush.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString
    Affected if Version returned is 1.5.16 or earlier (the affected range)
  3. Confirm vulnerability applies
    This vulnerability triggers when the application parses a specially crafted PNG file. The flaw exists in the PNG parsing logic and requires user interaction (opening a malicious PNG file in Premiere Rush) to trigger code execution. No specific configuration or feature toggle needs to be enabled for the vulnerability to exist in affected versions
    Affected if Installed version is 1.5.16 or earlier and the user opens a PNG file from an untrusted source

A system is affected if Adobe Premiere Rush version 1.5.16 or earlier is installed and a user opens a malicious PNG file in the application

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 a release after 1.5.16
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Premiere Rush to the latest patched version beyond 1.5.16. Exercise caution when opening PNG files from untrusted or unknown sources.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Premiere Rush version > 1.5.16 (latest available version from Adobe)

  1. 1. Close Adobe Premiere Rush if it is currently running.
  2. 2. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or visit adobe.com to check for updates.
  3. 3. Locate Adobe Premiere Rush in the available updates section.
  4. 4. Apply the available update to install a version higher than 1.5.16.
  5. 5. After updating, verify the installed version by opening Premiere Rush and checking the version number in the Help > About Premiere Rush menu.
  6. 6. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected PNG files from unknown sources to mitigate the user interaction requirement for this exploit.
Caveat Standard update - no major breaking changes expected for typical workflows

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

Fix this in Premiere Rush Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.

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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-2021-43022 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