CVE-2024-41836
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 · uneditedInDesign Desktop versions ID18.5.2, ID19.3 and earlier are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could lead to an application denial-of-service (DoS) condition. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, resulting in a DoS. 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 confidenceA NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in Adobe InDesign Desktop versions ID18.5.2, ID19.3 and earlier allows attackers to crash the application and cause denial of service by enticing users to open specially crafted malicious files.
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< 18.5.3>= 19.0, < 19.4CVSS 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
- 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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Locate installed Adobe InDesign versionOpen Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app, navigate to the Apps tab, and find InDesign in the installed software list. Alternatively, open InDesign and go to Help > About Adobe InDesign to see the full version number.Affected if Version displayed is below 18.5.3 or falls between 19.0 and 19.4 inclusive
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Confirm InDesign installation via command lineWindows: Check C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign [version] folder exists. Mac: Check /Applications/Adobe InDesign [version] exists. Use 'dir' or 'ls' to list installed Adobe applications.Affected if An Adobe InDesign installation folder exists with a version subfolder matching vulnerable version numbers
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Verify version number format against advisoryCompare your installed version number (such as 18.5.2, 19.0, 19.3, or 19.4) against the affected ranges: versions lower than 18.5.3, or versions 19.0 through 19.4Affected if Installed version falls within < 18.5.3 or >= 19.0 and < 19.4
You are affected if Adobe InDesign Desktop is installed and the version number is either below 18.5.3 or between 19.0 and 19.4 inclusive, since the vulnerability triggers when opening maliciously crafted 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 · scoped18.5.319.4
Apply the vendor patch when released and advise users to avoid opening untrusted InDesign files until the update is applied.
InDesign 18.5.3 or later for 18.x branch; InDesign 19.4 or later for 19.x branch
- Check current InDesign version by opening the application and going to Help > About InDesign
- If running version 18.x (e.g., 18.5.2 or earlier), upgrade to InDesign version 18.5.3 or later
- If running version 19.0 through 19.3, upgrade to InDesign version 19.4 or later
- Download the updated version from the official Adobe website (helpx.adobe.com) or through Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
- Restart the application after installation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-41836 — 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-2024-41836 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
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