CVE-2025-27166
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 ID20.1, ID19.5.2 and earlier are affected by an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. 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 confidenceAdobe InDesign Desktop versions ID20.1, ID19.5.2 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user when a victim opens a maliciously crafted InDesign 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< 19.5.3>= 20.0, < 20.2CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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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Identify installed InDesign versionOpen InDesign, then go to Help > About InDesign (or on Windows, check the version displayed in the application title bar or use the command 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign" /v version' in Command Prompt)Affected if the displayed version number is less than 19.5.3 OR is 20.0 or 20.1 (versions 20.0 through 20.1 are all affected)
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Verify version via Windows registryRun 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign" /s' or check 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\InstallPath' to locate the installation directory, then examine version.xml or the executable propertiesAffected if the version found is < 19.5.3 OR >= 20.0 but < 20.2
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Check macOS installation versionOpen Finder, navigate to Applications > Adobe InDesign, right-click and select Get Info, or run 'defaults read /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\*/Adobe\ InDesign\*\ Info CFBundleShortVersionString' in TerminalAffected if the version string matches the affected ranges: any version below 19.5.3, or versions 20.0 through 20.1
You are affected if Adobe InDesign Desktop is installed with any version below 19.5.3 or between 20.0 and 20.1 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 · scoped19.5.320.2
Apply the vendor security update to InDesign to patched versions; avoid opening untrusted or unexpected InDesign files from unverified sources.
InDesign 19.5.3 (for 19.x line) or InDesign 20.2 (for 20.x line)
- Check current InDesign version: Open InDesign > Help > About InDesign
- Determine which major version line you are on (19.x or 20.x)
- For InDesign 19.x users: Download and install InDesign version 19.5.3 or later from helpx.adobe.com
- For InDesign 20.x users: Download and install InDesign version 20.2 or later from helpx.adobe.com
- Verify the update was successful by checking Help > About InDesign again
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-27166 — 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-2025-27166 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