CVE-2021-43758
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 Media Encoder versions 22.0, 15.4.2 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to bypass mitigations such as ASLR. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious MP4 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 confidenceAdobe Media Encoder versions 22.0 and 15.4.2 (and earlier) contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability when parsing malicious MP4 files. Successful exploitation allows disclosure of sensitive memory contents, which can be leveraged to defeat ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) as a secondary attack enabler. The attack requires user interaction—the victim must open a crafted MP4 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< 15.4.3= 22.0CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 Media Encoder versionOpen Adobe Media Encoder, then go to Help > About Adobe Media Encoder. Alternatively, check the installed version in Control Panel > Programs and Features, or look in the installation directory for version information in the application executable properties.Affected if The installed version is 22.0 or 15.4.2 or any version earlier than 15.4.3
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Confirm affected version rangeCompare your installed version number against the affected ranges: version 22.0, or any version below 15.4.3. Versions 15.4.3 and later, and versions between 22.0 and the next major release, are not affected.Affected if Version is 22.0 exactly OR version is 15.4.2 or earlier
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Verify MP4 processing capabilityAdobe Media Encoder is a media encoding application that processes video files including MP4 format. Check if the application is configured to accept or encode MP4 files as input or output.Affected if The application is used to process MP4 files and the version falls within the affected range
You are affected if Adobe Media Encoder version 22.0 or version 15.4.2 or earlier is installed and the application processes MP4 files, since the vulnerability triggers during MP4 parsing and requires user interaction (opening a crafted file).
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 · scoped15.4.3
Update Adobe Media Encoder to the latest version to patch the vulnerability. Until patched, instruct users to avoid opening MP4 files from untrusted sources, as user interaction is required for exploitation.
Adobe Media Encoder 15.4.3 or later (for version 22.0 users: latest available version beyond 22.0)
- 1. Determine the installed Adobe Media Encoder version by launching the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Media Encoder
- 2. If running version 15.4.2 or earlier, or version 22.0, navigate to the Adobe Media Encoder download page at helpx.adobe.com
- 3. Download Adobe Media Encoder version 15.4.3 or later (for version 22.0 users, download the latest available version which should contain the security fix)
- 4. Close Adobe Media Encoder completely before installing the update
- 5. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the upgrade
- 6. After installation, verify the version by checking Help > About Adobe Media Encoder to confirm the patch was applied
- 7. As a secondary precaution, exercise caution with MP4 files from untrusted sources, as exploitation requires user interaction to open a malicious file
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-2021-43758 — 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-2021-43758 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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