dbcve.org
IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-53952

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 19.5 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 ID19.5, ID18.5.4 and earlier are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could result in an application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, leading to 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 confidence

A NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Adobe InDesign Desktop versions ID19.5, ID18.5.4 and earlier allows attackers to crash the application by tricking users into opening malicious files, resulting in denial-of-service.

MitigationApply Adobe's official security patch when released and instruct users to avoid opening .indd files from untrusted sources until the update is deployed.

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, <= 19.5

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 InDesign version
    Open Adobe InDesign, then go to Help > About InDesign (or on Windows, right-click the InDesign executable and select Properties > Details). Locate the version number displayed.
    Affected if The version number is 18.5.4 or lower, OR falls between 19.0 and 19.5 inclusive.
  2. Confirm InDesign is operational
    Verify that the InDesign application launches and can open .indd files without immediate crash on normal files.
    Affected if The application runs normally on benign files, indicating the vulnerability trigger (malicious file handling) has not yet been exercised.
  3. Determine exposure to untrusted .indd files
    Assess whether users in the environment routinely open .indd files from email attachments, external drives, or untrusted network shares.
    Affected if Users routinely open .indd files from untrusted or unknown sources, enabling the attack vector.

You are affected if InDesign version is 18.5.4 or earlier, or between 19.0 and 19.5 inclusive, and users can open .indd files from potentially malicious sources.

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 a release after 19.5
Interim mitigation

Apply Adobe's official security patch when released and instruct users to avoid opening .indd files from untrusted sources until the update is deployed.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

InDesign 20.0 or later (verify exact version from Adobe's security bulletin)

  1. 1. Verify current InDesk version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe InDesign
  2. 2. Close any open instances of InDesign
  3. 3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to https://creativecloud.adobe.com/
  4. 4. Look for InDesign in your installed applications and check for available updates
  5. 5. If an update to version 20.0 or later is available, click Update to download and install the patched version
  6. 6. Alternatively, download the latest version installer directly from Adobe's official website at https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html
  7. 7. After installation, verify the version by checking Help > About Adobe InDesign to confirm you are on version 20.0 or later
Caveat Review Adobe's release notes for new features in version 20.0 as interface or workflow changes may require adjustment

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
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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-2024-53952 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