IllustratorApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-25860

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 27.3.1 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
Illustrator version 26.5.2 (and earlier) and 27.2.0 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds write 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 · high confidence

Adobe Illustrator versions 26.5.2 and earlier and 27.2.0 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that can be triggered by opening a maliciously crafted file, leading to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Illustrator to the latest patched version. Until patched, avoid opening files from untrusted 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
IllustratorApplication
Affected:<= 26.5.2>= 27.0.0, < 27.3.1

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. Find installed Adobe Illustrator version
    Open Adobe Illustrator and go to Help > About Adobe Illustrator, or check the version in the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app under installed applications
    Affected if The version shown is 26.5.2 or earlier, or any version from 27.0.0 through 27.3.0 (versions 27.0.0 to 27.3.0 are affected)
  2. Confirm version matches affected range
    Compare your installed version number against the vulnerable ranges: versions 26.5.2 and below are affected; versions 27.0.0 through 27.3.0 are affected
    Affected if Your installed version falls within either <= 26.5.2 or >= 27.0.0 and < 27.3.1
  3. Verify you open files in Illustrator
    This vulnerability is triggered when opening a maliciously crafted file - confirm that you use Adobe Illustrator to open .ai or related file formats
    Affected if You open untrusted or unexpected files in Adobe Illustrator on an affected version

You are affected if Adobe Illustrator is installed at version 26.5.2 or earlier, or at version 27.0.0 through 27.3.0, and you open files (particularly from untrusted sources) in that application

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 27.3.1 or later
Fixed in 27.3.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Illustrator to the latest patched version. Until patched, avoid opening files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

27.3.1 or later

  1. Close Adobe Illustrator if it is currently running
  2. Open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application on your system
  3. Navigate to the Apps or Updates section within Creative Cloud
  4. Locate Adobe Illustrator in the list of installed applications
  5. Click on Update or Install to upgrade to the latest available version
  6. Restart Adobe Illustrator after the update completes
  7. Verify the installed version is 27.3.1 or higher by going to Help > About Adobe Illustrator

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

Fix this in Illustrator Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-25860 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-25860 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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