IllustratorApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-26426

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 a Use After Free 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 a Use After Free vulnerability that could allow arbitrary code execution when a user opens a maliciously crafted file, requiring user interaction for exploitation.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Illustrator to the latest patched version beyond 26.5.2 and 27.2.0, and exercise caution when 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. Locate Adobe Illustrator installation
    On Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features and find Adobe Illustrator in the list. On macOS, open Finder > Applications and locate Adobe Illustrator.
    Affected if Adobe Illustrator is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed version number
    Open Adobe Illustrator and go to Help > About Adobe Illustrator. On Windows, you can also check the version in Programs and Features. On macOS, right-click the application in Applications and select Get Info to see the version.
    Affected if The version displayed is 26.5.2 or lower, or between 27.0.0 and 27.3.0 inclusive
  3. Compare version against CVE ranges
    Compare the installed version number to these affected ranges: versions 26.5.2 and earlier, OR versions 27.0.0 through 27.3.0. Versions 27.3.1 and later are patched.
    Affected if Your installed version falls within <= 26.5.2 or >= 27.0.0 and < 27.3.1

You are affected if Adobe Illustrator is installed and the version is 26.5.2 or lower, or between 27.0.0 and 27.3.0 inclusive.

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 beyond 26.5.2 and 27.2.0, and exercise caution when opening files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

27.3.1 or later

  1. 1. Close Adobe Illustrator if it is currently running.
  2. 2. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to the Adobe Illustrator download page.
  3. 3. Locate Adobe Illustrator in your installed applications.
  4. 4. Click on the update option to download and install the latest version.
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the updated version directly from helpx.adobe.com or your Adobe account portal.
  6. 6. Restart Adobe Illustrator after the update completes.
  7. 7. Verify the version by going to Help > About Adobe Illustrator and confirm the version number is 27.3.1 or later.
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply; back up custom presets and workspaces before updating

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-2023-26426 — 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-2023-26426 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