IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-49510

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 18.5.4 / 20.0 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
InDesign Desktop versions ID18.5.3, ID19.5 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 · high confidence

Adobe InDesign Desktop versions ID18.5.3, ID19.5 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability during file parsing. When a victim opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application reads memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries, leaking sensitive memory contents. This information disclosure can expose memory addresses that enable attackers to bypass ASLR mitigations, potentially facilitating further exploitation.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied Adobe security patch when released. Until then, enforce user awareness to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unverified sources, as exploitation requires user interaction.

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:< 18.5.4>= 19.0, < 20.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate InDesign installation and version
    On Windows, check 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign *\ID.exe' version properties, or run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign" /v Version' if installed. On macOS, check '/Applications/Adobe InDesign */Adobe InDesign.app' Get Info window.
    Affected if Version matches < 18.5.4 or >= 19.0 and < 20.0 (for example 18.5.3, 19.0-19.5)
  2. Confirm exact version number
    Open InDesign, go to Help > About Adobe InDesign to display the full version string (for example 18.5.3 or 19.5.0).
    Affected if Version shown is 18.5.3, 19.0, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, or 19.5 (any version below 18.5.4 or between 19.0 and 19.5 inclusive)
  3. Identify file handling behavior
    The vulnerability triggers during file parsing when opening specially crafted files. Check if InDesign is configured to open files from untrusted or network locations, or if default file associations exist for .indd, .idml, .inx files.
    Affected if InDesign can parse and open files (the attack surface exists whenever the application opens files)

You are affected if your installed InDesign version is 18.5.3 or any version from 19.0 through 19.5, and you open untrusted InDesign files.

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 18.5.4 / 20.0 or later
Fixed in 18.5.420.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied Adobe security patch when released. Until then, enforce user awareness to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unverified sources, as exploitation requires user interaction.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InDesign 18.5.4 or later for version 18.x line; InDesign 20.0 or later for version 19.x line

  1. 1. Close Adobe InDesign if it is currently running
  2. 2. Back up any important InDesign documents and settings
  3. 3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to the Adobe InDesign download page at helpx.adobe.com
  4. 4. Check for available updates to InDesign
  5. 5. If using InDesign version 18.x (ID18.x), upgrade to version 18.5.4 or later
  6. 6. If using InDesign version 19.x (ID19.x), upgrade to version 20.0 or later (the next major version)
  7. 7. After installation, verify the version by opening InDesign and checking Help > About InDesign
  8. 8. Do not open untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unknown sources to avoid potential exploitation
Caveat Upgrading to version 20.0 is a major version change that may introduce compatibility differences with plugins, scripts, or older document formats

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-49510 — 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-2024-49510 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