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PhotoshopApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-21578

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 23.5.4 / 24.1.1 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
Photoshop version 23.5.3 (and earlier), 24.1 (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 Photoshop contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in versions 23.5.3 and earlier, and 24.1 and earlier. The vulnerability allows disclosure of sensitive memory contents, which could enable an attacker to bypass ASLR security mitigations. Exploitation requires a victim to open a specially crafted malicious file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Photoshop to the latest patched version. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected files, and exercise caution with files from unverified sources.

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
PhotoshopApplication
Affected:>= 23.0.0, < 23.5.4>= 24.0.0, < 24.1.1

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
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. Determine installed Photoshop version on Windows
    Open Photoshop, go to Help > About Photoshop, or check the version in Control Panel > Programs and Features
    Affected if Version shown is 23.5.3 or earlier, or between 24.0.0 and 24.1.0 inclusive
  2. Determine installed Photoshop version on macOS
    Open Photoshop, go to Photoshop > About Photoshop, or check the version in Applications folder Get Info window
    Affected if Version shown is 23.5.3 or earlier, or between 24.0.0 and 24.1.0 inclusive
  3. Check Photoshop version via command line (Windows)
    Run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop" /v Version' in Command Prompt or check in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]
    Affected if Returned version falls within 23.0.0 to 23.5.3, or 24.0.0 to 24.1.0
  4. Check Photoshop version via command line (macOS)
    Run 'defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ Photoshop\ [version]/Info CFBundleShortVersionString' in Terminal
    Affected if Returned version falls within 23.0.0 to 23.5.3, or 24.0.0 to 24.1.0

You are affected if Adobe Photoshop version is 23.0.0 through 23.5.3, or 24.0.0 through 24.1.0, and you open untrusted or malicious files.

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 23.5.4 / 24.1.1 or later
Fixed in 23.5.424.1.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Photoshop to the latest patched version. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected files, and exercise caution with files from unverified sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Photoshop 23.5.4 (for 23.x branch) or 24.1.1 (for 24.x branch)

  1. 1. Open Adobe Photoshop on your system
  2. 2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates (or use the Creative Cloud desktop app)
  3. 3. Allow the update checker to identify available updates
  4. 4. If using Photoshop 23.x (version 23.0.0 through 23.5.3), install update to version 23.5.4 or later
  5. 5. If using Photoshop 24.x (version 24.0.0 through 24.1), install update to version 24.1.1 or later
  6. 6. Restart Photoshop after the update completes
  7. 7. Verify the installed version by going to Help > About Photoshop
Caveat Minimal risk; security patch updates typically preserve compatibility with existing projects and presets

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

Fix this in Photoshop Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2023-21578 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