CVE-2024-34138
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 · uneditedIllustrator versions 28.5, 27.9.4 and earlier are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could lead to an application denial-of-service (DoS). An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, resulting in a denial of service condition. 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 confidenceAdobe Illustrator contains a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in its file parsing logic. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing a crash and denial of service.
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>= 27.0.0, < 27.9.5>= 28.0, < 28.6CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Adobe Illustrator is installedCheck for Adobe Illustrator in the installed programs list. On Windows: open Control Panel > Programs and Features or Settings > Apps. On macOS: check /Applications folder for Adobe Illustrator.Affected if Adobe Illustrator is not installed on the system - this CVE does not apply.
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Determine installed Adobe Illustrator versionOpen Adobe Illustrator, then go to Help > About Adobe Illustrator (Windows) or Illustrator > About Adobe Illustrator (macOS). The version number will be displayed in the dialog window.Affected if Unable to determine version - cannot assess vulnerability status.
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Compare version against affected rangesNote the full version number (e.g., 27.9.4, 28.5). Check if it falls within: 27.0.0 to 27.9.4 (inclusive), OR 28.0 to 28.5 (inclusive). Versions 27.9.5 and above, or 28.6 and above, are NOT affected.Affected if Installed version is 27.0.0-27.9.4 or 28.0-28.5 - the environment contains a vulnerable version.
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Understand attack vectorThis vulnerability is triggered through the file parsing logic when opening a specially crafted malicious file. No specific configuration or feature needs to be enabled - any user who can open files in Illustrator can trigger the vulnerability.Affected if User can open files in Adobe Illustrator - the vulnerable code path is reachable.
A user is affected if Adobe Illustrator is installed with a version between 27.0.0 and 27.9.4, or between 28.0 and 28.5, and users can open files in the application.
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 · scoped27.9.528.6
Avoid opening files from untrusted or unknown sources. Apply the vendor patch when released by Adobe. Consider implementing file type restrictions or sandboxing for Illustrator as a compensating control.
Adobe Illustrator 27.9.5 or later for 27.x branch; Adobe Illustrator 28.6 or later for 28.x branch
- 1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- 2. Navigate to the Apps section
- 3. Find Adobe Illustrator in your installed apps
- 4. Click on the update button next to Illustrator
- 5. Wait for the update to download and install
- 6. Restart Illustrator to ensure the update is fully applied
- 7. Alternatively, download the updated version directly from helpx.adobe.com
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-34138 — 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-2024-34138 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