CVE-2021-46816
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 Premiere Pro version 15.4 (and earlier) are affected by a memory corruption vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve 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 M4A 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 Premiere Pro version 15.4 and earlier contains a memory corruption vulnerability that can be triggered by opening a specially crafted malicious M4A audio file, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to achieve 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< 15.4.1CVSS 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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Check installed Adobe Premiere Pro versionLocate the installed Adobe Premiere Pro application and determine its version number using system tools or application metadataAffected if The installed version is 15.4 or earlier (including 15.4, 15.3, 15.2, 15.1, 15.0, or any earlier release)
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Compare version to patched releaseVerify whether the installed version is below 15.4.1 - any version less than 15.4.1 falls within the affected rangeAffected if Version is below 15.4.1
The environment is affected if Adobe Premiere Pro version 15.4 or earlier is installed, as this version range is vulnerable to memory corruption when processing specially crafted M4A audio 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 · scoped15.4.1
Users should avoid opening M4A files from untrusted sources and should update Adobe Premiere Pro to the latest patched version available from Adobe.
Premiere Pro 15.4.1 or later
- Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- Navigate to the 'Apps' section
- Find Adobe Premiere Pro in the list of installed apps
- Click the 'Update' button next to Premiere Pro
- Wait for the update to download and install
- Restart Premiere Pro if prompted
- Verify the update by going to Help > About Adobe Premiere Pro and confirming version 15.4.1 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing0.5 h
- Review / QA0.5 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-46816 — 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-2021-46816 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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