dbcve.org
IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-21125

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 19.5.2 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 ID20.0, ID19.5.1 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

Adobe InDesign Desktop versions ID20.0, ID19.5.1 and earlier contain a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in file parsing logic. When a victim opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing an access violation and application crash, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security update/patch for CVE-2025-21125. Until patched, instruct users to avoid opening untrusted InDesign files from unknown sources.

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:< 19.5.2= 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
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. Determine installed Adobe InDesign version on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\(version folder) or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\(version folder), then look for the 'Version' value. Alternatively, right-click the InDesign executable (typically in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign [version]\InDesign.exe) and select Properties > Details to view the File Version.
    Affected if The displayed version is 20.0 or falls between 19.0 and 19.5.1 inclusive (versions below 19.5.2)
  2. Determine installed Adobe InDesign version on macOS
    Open Finder, navigate to /Applications/Adobe InDesign [version]/Adobe InDesign.app, right-click and select Get Info, or run the command: defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\ [version]/Adobe\ InDesign.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion in Terminal.
    Affected if The displayed version is 20.0 or falls between 19.0 and 19.5.1 inclusive (versions below 19.5.2)
  3. Identify if users open InDesign files from external or untrusted sources
    Review user workflows and file handling practices. Check recent InDesign session activity by examining the application's recent files list or any file logging in the user's Documents/Adobe workspace folders, or ask users if they regularly open .indd, .idml, or .icml files received via email, downloaded from the internet, or from external drives.
    Affected if Users with affected versions open InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources

You are affected if your installed Adobe InDesign version is 20.0 or any version from 19.0 through 19.5.1 (all versions below 19.5.2) 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 19.5.2 or later
Fixed in 19.5.2
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security update/patch for CVE-2025-21125. Until patched, instruct users to avoid opening untrusted InDesign files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Adobe InDesign 19.5.2 or later (or version 20.1+ when available for 20.x users)

  1. Upgrade Adobe InDesign to version 19.5.2 or later for the 19.x release line
  2. If using version 20.0, wait for and apply the subsequent security update (20.1 or later) from Adobe
  3. Verify the installed version by going to Help > About Adobe InDesign
  4. After upgrading, ensure you can open and work with existing InDesign documents normally

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,660
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-21125 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