CVE-2023-29311
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 versions ID18.3 (and earlier) and ID17.4.1 (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 · moderate confidenceAdobe InDesign contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows a specially crafted malicious file to read memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries when opened by a victim. This information disclosure can leak sensitive memory contents that attackers can leverage to bypass ASLR, a critical memory protection mitigation. Exploitation requires user interaction as the victim must explicitly open the malicious file.
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, < 17.4.2>= 18.0, < 18.4CVSS 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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Check if Adobe InDesign is installedOn Windows, check the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\ or look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\ for InDesign folder. On macOS, check /Applications/ for Adobe InDesign.appAffected if InDesign is not installed on the system
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Determine installed InDesign versionOn Windows, check the Version value in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\ or right-click the InDesign.exe file and view Properties > Details. On macOS, right-click Adobe InDesign.app > Get Info to view the version numberAffected if The version cannot be determined or InDesign is not found
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Compare version against affected rangesCompare your installed version number to the affected ranges: 17.0 through 17.4.1 (versions < 17.4.2) and 18.0 through 18.3 (versions < 18.4). Note that versions 17.0 through 17.4.1 and 18.0 through 18.3 are vulnerableAffected if Installed version is 17.0 or higher but lower than 17.4.2, OR installed version is 18.0 or higher but lower than 18.4
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Assess exposure to malicious file handlingThis vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malicious file. Check whether users in your environment have the ability to open InDesign files from external or untrusted sources, such as email attachments or downloaded filesAffected if Users routinely open InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources without validation
You are affected if Adobe InDesign is installed with a version in the range 17.0 to 17.4.1 or 18.0 to 18.3, and users can open potentially malicious InDesign files.
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 · scoped17.4.218.4
Apply the vendor-supplied security update to InDesign versions ID18.3 and earlier or ID17.4.1 and earlier. Additionally, educate users to avoid opening files from untrusted sources and consider deploying endpoint detection tools to identify suspicious file activity.
Adobe InDesign 17.4.2 or later for 17.x line; Adobe InDesign 18.4 or later for 18.x line
- Close Adobe InDesign if it is currently running
- Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or visit the official Adobe downloads page
- Navigate to Adobe InDesign and check for available updates
- Download and install InDesign version 17.4.2 or later (for 17.x line) OR version 18.4 or later (for 18.x line)
- Restart Adobe InDesign after the installation completes
- Verify the installed version by going to Help > About Adobe InDesign
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-29311 — 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-2023-29311 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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- 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