CVE-2023-21592
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 InDesign version 18.0 (and earlier), 17.4 (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 confidenceAdobe InDesign versions 18.0 and earlier, as well as 17.4 and earlier, contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application reads memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries, exposing sensitive memory contents. This information disclosure can be leveraged to bypass ASLR mitigations, potentially facilitating further exploitation.
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>= 17.0, <= 17.4= 18.0CVSS 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 InDesign is installedOn Windows, check for InDesign.exe in typical install paths (e.g., C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2022 or 2023\) or look in the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe InDesign folders.Affected if Adobe InDesign is found on the system
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Determine installed InDesign versionOn Windows, right-click the InDesign.exe file, select Properties, and view the File Version on the Details tab. On macOS, right-click the Adobe InDesign app, select Show Package Contents, and check Contents/Info.plist for CFBundleShortVersionString.Affected if The displayed version falls within 17.0 through 17.4 inclusive, or is exactly 18.0
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Confirm version matches affected rangesCompare your identified version number against the CVE-affected ranges: versions 17.0, 17.0.1, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.4 and version 18.0 are all vulnerable.Affected if The installed version is 17.0 through 17.4 (any minor release) or is exactly 18.0
If Adobe InDesign is installed and the version is 17.0-17.4 or 18.0, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2023-21592 when opening the specially crafted malicious 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 InDesign to the latest patched version released by Adobe. Until patches are applied, train users to avoid opening InDesign files from untrusted sources.
Adobe InDesign 18.1 or later (verify via Help > About Adobe InDesign)
- 1. Ensure Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop application is installed and running
- 2. Open Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop application
- 3. Navigate to the 'Apps' section
- 4. Find Adobe InDesign in the list of installed applications
- 5. Click the 'Update' button next to Adobe InDesign if an update is available
- 6. Wait for the update to download and install completely
- 7. Restart Adobe InDesign after the update completes
- 8. Verify the installed version is 18.1 or later by going to Help > About Adobe InDesign
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21592 — 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-2023-21592 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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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.
- 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