CVE-2022-38428
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 Photoshop versions 22.5.8 (and earlier) and 23.4.2 (and earlier) are affected by a Use After Free 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 confidenceAdobe Photoshop versions 22.5.8 and earlier (22.x) and 23.4.2 and earlier (23.x) contain a Use After Free vulnerability that could allow an attacker to disclose sensitive memory contents after a memory object has been freed. This memory disclosure can be leveraged to bypass ASLR mitigations, potentially facilitating further exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction in the form of opening a malicious 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>= 22.0, <= 22.5.8>= 23.0, <= 23.4.2CVSS 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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Verify Adobe Photoshop is installedLocate Photoshop executable on the system (common paths: Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop *year*\Photoshop.exe, macOS: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop *year*.app) or check system installed programsAffected if Photoshop executable is found on the system
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Determine installed Photoshop versionOpen Photoshop and go to Help > About Photoshop, or right-click the Photoshop executable and select Properties > Details to view the Product VersionAffected if Version cannot be determined or is in the 22.x or 23.x family
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Compare version against affected rangesMatch the installed version number to the vulnerable ranges: 22.0 through 22.5.8 (22.x) or 23.0 through 23.4.2 (23.x)Affected if Installed version falls within 22.0-22.5.8 or 23.0-23.4.2
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Confirm attack surface exposureVerify that Photoshop can open image files (the vulnerability is triggered when opening maliciously crafted files)Affected if Photoshop is installed with vulnerable version AND can open files from external sources
User is affected if Adobe Photoshop version 22.0-22.5.8 or 23.0-23.4.2 is installed and can be used to open files, since the Use-After-Free vulnerability triggers upon 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 · scopedUpdate Adobe Photoshop to version 23.5 or later (22.x users should update past 22.5.8; 23.x users past 23.4.2). Additionally, exercise caution when opening files from untrusted sources to mitigate the user interaction requirement.
Photoshop 22.5.9 or later for 22.x line; Photoshop 23.4.3 or later for 23.x line
- 1. Determine your current Adobe Photoshop version by going to Help > About Photoshop
- 2. If using version 22.x (22.0 through 22.5.8), upgrade to version 22.5.9 or later
- 3. If using version 23.x (23.0 through 23.4.2), upgrade to version 23.4.3 or later
- 4. Download the updated version from the official Adobe website at https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html
- 5. Before opening any untrusted files in Photoshop, verify you have applied the security update
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-38428 — 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-2022-38428 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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