IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-34245

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.2.1 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 InDesign versions 17.2.1 (and earlier) and 16.4.1 (and earlier) are affected by a Heap-based Buffer Overflow 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 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 · moderate confidence

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe InDesign allows arbitrary code execution when a user opens a maliciously crafted INDD file. The vulnerability exists in versions 17.2.1 and earlier, as well as 16.4.1 and earlier.

MitigationUsers should refrain from opening InDesign files from untrusted sources and should update to Adobe InDesign version 17.3 or later (for the 17.x branch) or version 16.4.2 or later (for the 16.x branch).

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:<= 16.4.1>= 17.0, <= 17.2.1

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. Identify installed Adobe InDesign version
    Open Adobe InDesign and navigate to Help > About Adobe InDesign, or check the version displayed in the application launch screen or installer
    Affected if The displayed version is 16.4.1 or earlier, or falls between 17.0 and 17.2.1 inclusive
  2. Confirm version falls within vulnerable 16.x range
    Compare your installed 16.x branch version to 16.4.1 - any version from 16.0 through 16.4.1 is affected
    Affected if Your version is 16.4.1 or earlier in the 16.x branch
  3. Confirm version falls within vulnerable 17.x range
    Compare your installed 17.x branch version to the range 17.0 through 17.2.1 - any version from 17.0 through 17.2.1 is affected
    Affected if Your version is 17.0 through 17.2.1 in the 17.x branch

You are affected if your installed Adobe InDesign version is 16.4.1 or earlier, or is version 17.0 through 17.2.1, and you open INDD files from untrusted sources.

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 17.2.1
Interim mitigation

Users should refrain from opening InDesign files from untrusted sources and should update to Adobe InDesign version 17.3 or later (for the 17.x branch) or version 16.4.2 or later (for the 16.x branch).

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InDesign 16.4.2+ (16.x line) or InDesign 17.3+ (17.x line)

  1. 1. Close Adobe InDesign if it is currently running
  2. 2. Verify your current InDesign version by opening InDesign and navigating to Help > About Adobe InDesign
  3. 3. For InDesign 16.x users: Upgrade to version 16.4.2 or later
  4. 4. For InDesign 17.x users: Upgrade to version 17.3 or later
  5. 5. Download the updated version from the official Adobe website at adobe.com
  6. 6. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the upgrade
  7. 7. After installation, restart InDesign and confirm the version has been updated
  8. 8. Avoid opening untrusted or suspicious InDesign files to mitigate the user interaction requirement for exploitation
Caveat Minor: Some legacy features or plug-ins may require updates; recommend testing existing workflows in a non-production environment first

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

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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-2022-34245 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