CVE-2024-53951
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 ID19.5, ID18.5.4 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 confidenceAn out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe InDesign Desktop allows disclosure of sensitive memory contents, which could be leveraged to bypass ASLR mitigations. Exploitation requires a victim to open a specially crafted malicious .indd 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<= 18.5.4>= 19.0, <= 19.5CVSS 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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Verify InDesign is installedCheck for InDesign executable or application. On Windows: look in Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign* or check registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign. On Mac: check /Applications for Adobe InDesign.app.Affected if InDesign is not found on the system, then the CVE does not apply.
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Identify installed InDesign versionOn Windows: run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\<version>" /v Version' for each version subkey, or right-click the InDesign.exe file and select Properties > Details to view Product Version. On Mac: right-click Adobe InDesign.app > Get Info to see Version, or run 'defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\*/Adobe\ InDesign\*/Info CFBundleShortVersionString'.Affected if Unable to determine version means you cannot assess exposure.
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Compare version against affected rangesMatch your installed version number to the vulnerable ranges: 18.x versions 18.5.4 and below are affected; 19.x versions 19.0 through 19.5 are affected. Versions 18.5.5 and later, and 19.5.1 and later are NOT affected.Affected if The installed version falls within <= 18.5.4 or >= 19.0 and <= 19.5, meaning the vulnerability is present in this installation.
Your environment is affected only if Adobe InDesign is installed AND the installed version is either 18.5.4 or lower, or between 19.0 and 19.5 inclusive.
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 · scopedApply the vendor security update (ID19.5.1 and ID18.5.5 or later) to all affected InDesign installations, and educate users to avoid opening InDesign files from untrusted sources.
InDesign 19.5.1 or later (or InDesign 20.x if available)
- 1. Close Adobe InDesign if it is currently running
- 2. Back up any important InDesign documents as a precaution
- 3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to the Adobe InDesign download page
- 4. Check for available updates to InDesign
- 5. Download and install the latest version of InDesign (version 19.5.1 or later)
- 6. Restart your computer after installation completes
- 7. Verify the installed version by opening InDesign and checking Help > About InDesign
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,880.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-53951 — 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-2024-53951 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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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.
- 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