dbcve.org
IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-44345

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 18.5.1 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 ID18.5 (and earlier) and ID17.4.2 (and earlier) are affected by a Improper Input Validation 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 · high confidence

Improper input validation in Adobe InDesign allows an unauthenticated attacker to craft a malicious file that, when opened by a victim, causes an application denial-of-service condition. The vulnerability affects ID18.5 and earlier versions as well as ID17.4.2 and earlier versions.

MitigationUpdate Adobe InDesign to version ID18.5.1 or ID17.4.3 (or later) to patch the vulnerability, and educate users to 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
IndesignApplication
Affected:<= 17.4.2>= 18.0, < 18.5.1

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, locate Adobe InDesign in the list, and note the version number shown in the Version column
    Affected if Version listed is 17.4.2 or earlier, or any version from 18.0 through 18.5.0 (18.5 without the .1 update)
  2. Identify installed Adobe InDesign version on macOS
    Open Finder, navigate to Applications folder, locate Adobe InDesign, right-click and select Get Info, or open the application and go to InDesign menu > About InDesign
    Affected if Version shown is 17.4.2 or earlier, or any version from 18.0 through 18.5.0 (18.5 without the .1 update)
  3. Check InDesign version via command line (Windows)
    Open Command Prompt and run: wmic product where "name like 'Adobe InDesign%'" get name,version
    Affected if Version output shows 17.4.2 or earlier, or any version from 18.0 through 18.5.0
  4. Check InDesign version via command line (macOS)
    Open Terminal and run: defaults read "/Applications/Adobe InDesign 2024/Adobe InDesign 2024.app/Contents/Info.plist" CFBundleVersion (adjust path for InDesign 2023 if applicable)
    Affected if Version string shows 17.4.2 or earlier, or any version from 18.0 through 18.5.0

User is affected if Adobe InDesign is installed with version 17.4.2 or earlier, or version 18.0 through 18.5.0; versions 17.4.3+ and 18.5.1+ are patched.

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 18.5.1 or later
Fixed in 18.5.1
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe InDesign to version ID18.5.1 or ID17.4.3 (or later) to patch the vulnerability, and educate users to avoid opening files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InDesign 18.5.1 or later (or InDesign 17.4.3+ if staying on the 17.x branch)

  1. Navigate to the official Adobe InDesign download page at adobe.com or your Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
  2. Download Adobe InDesign version 18.5.1 or later (for InDesign 18.x) or the latest 17.x version beyond 17.4.2
  3. Before installing, close any running Adobe InDesign instances
  4. Run the installer and follow the prompts to upgrade InDesign
  5. After installation, verify the version by opening InDesign and going to Help > About Adobe InDesign
Caveat Major version upgrades may cause compatibility issues with older .indd files; save copies of critical documents before upgrading

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-44345 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-44345 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