dbcve.org
IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-21593

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.4 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 ID18.1 (and earlier) and ID17.4 (and earlier) are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve an application denial-of-service 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

NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Adobe InDesign versions ID18.1 (and earlier) and ID17.4 (and earlier). An unauthenticated attacker can achieve application denial-of-service by tricking a victim into opening a maliciously crafted file, causing the application to crash.

MitigationUpdate Adobe InDesign to version ID18.2 or later (for ID18.x) and ID17.5 or later (for ID17.x) to obtain the patched version. Users should avoid opening untrusted files from unknown 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
IndesignApplication
Affected:>= 17.0, <= 17.4= 18.0= 18.1

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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
    On Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features and locate Adobe InDesign in the installed programs list, or run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{...}" /v DisplayVersion' for the InDesign entry. On macOS, right-click Adobe InDesign in the Applications folder and select Get Info to view the version number.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within 17.0 through 17.4, or equals 18.0 or 18.1.
  2. Confirm InDesign application is present
    Verify that Adobe InDesign is installed on the system by checking the default installation paths: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2022 or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2023 on Windows, or /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2022/Adobe InDesign 2023.app on macOS.
    Affected if The application is installed at any version within the affected ranges listed above.
  3. Determine if untrusted files could be opened
    Assess whether users have the ability to open files from untrusted sources. Check if file type associations for .indd, .idml, or other InDesign file formats are registered to the application, or if users could manually open received files via File > Open.
    Affected if InDesign can open files and the user could be tricked into opening a maliciously crafted file from an untrusted source.

A system is affected if Adobe InDesign version 17.0 through 17.4, 18.0, or 18.1 is installed and the application can open files, allowing a maliciously crafted file to trigger the NULL pointer dereference crash.

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 17.4
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe InDesign to version ID18.2 or later (for ID18.x) and ID17.5 or later (for ID17.x) to obtain the patched version. Users should avoid opening untrusted files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

ID17.4.1 or later for 17.x line; ID18.2 or later for 18.x line

  1. Check current InDesign version via Help > About Adobe InDesign
  2. Close InDesign if currently running
  3. Download the fixed version from the official Adobe website - for 17.x line use ID17.4.1 or later, for 18.x line use ID18.2 or later
  4. Run the Adobe InDesign installer and follow prompts to complete the update
  5. Restart InDesign after installation completes
  6. Verify the installed version matches the fixed release (17.4.1+ or 18.2+)

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation0.5 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA0.5 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-21593 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