IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-30673

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.3 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 InDesign versions 16.4.2 (and earlier) and 17.3 (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 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 confidence

Adobe InDesign versions 16.4.2 and earlier and 17.3 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows disclosure of sensitive memory contents. An attacker can exploit this by crafting a malicious file that, when opened by a victim, triggers the vulnerability and potentially bypasses ASLR mitigations through memory address leakage.

MitigationUpdate Adobe InDesign to the latest patched version. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unknown sources as exploitation requires user interaction.

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
IndesignApplication
Affected:>= 16.0, <= 16.4.2>= 17.0, <= 17.3

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate installed Adobe InDesign version
    Open Adobe InDesign, then go to Help > About Adobe InDesign. The version number is displayed in the dialog box. Alternatively, check the installed programs list in Windows Control Panel or macOS Applications folder for the version entry.
    Affected if Version falls within 16.0 through 16.4.2, or 17.0 through 17.3
  2. Confirm exact version number
    Note the full version number shown (for example, 16.4.2 or 17.3). Compare this against the affected ranges: 16.0 to 16.4.2 (inclusive) and 17.0 to 17.3 (inclusive).
    Affected if Installed version is 16.4.2 or earlier, or 17.3 or earlier
  3. Identify attack vector exposure
    This vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malicious InDesign file (.indd, .idml, or .inx). Check whether the system frequently opens InDesign files from external sources, email attachments, or untrusted locations.
    Affected if Users routinely open InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources without validation

If the installed Adobe InDesign version is 16.4.2 or earlier, or 17.3 or earlier, and users open InDesign files from untrusted sources, the environment is affected by this out-of-bounds read vulnerability.

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 17.3
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe InDesign to the latest patched version. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unknown sources as exploitation requires user interaction.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InDesign 16.5 or later for 16.x users; InDesign 17.4 or later for 17.x users

  1. 1. Close Adobe InDesign if it is currently running
  2. 2. Back up any important InDesign files and workspaces
  3. 3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to https://creativecloud.adobe.com
  4. 4. Navigate to the InDesign application section
  5. 5. Check for available updates - the fixed versions are InDesign 16.5 and 17.4 or later
  6. 6. Download and install the updated version (16.5.x for the 16.x line or 17.4.x for the 17.x line)
  7. 7. Restart your computer after installation completes
  8. 8. Verify the installed version by opening InDesign and checking Help > About InDesign
Caveat Adobe major version upgrades may include UI changes and occasional file format differences; test critical workflows with the new version before full deployment

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-30673 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-30673 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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