IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-27175

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 19.5.3 / 20.2 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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 ID20.1, 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 · moderate confidence

InDesign Desktop versions 20.1, 19.5.2 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability. When a user opens a maliciously crafted file, the vulnerability triggers arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the current user.

MitigationUpdate InDesign to the latest patched version and avoid opening files from untrusted or unverified 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:< 19.5.3>= 20.0, < 20.2

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
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 checks

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

  1. Determine installed InDesign version
    Open InDesign, then go to Help > About Adobe InDesign (Windows) or InDesign > About InDesign (macOS). Alternatively, check the Windows Registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\(version)\InstallPath or the macOS Application bundle at /Applications/Adobe InDesign */Info.plist for CFBundleShortVersionString.
    Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 19.5.3, OR is 20.0, 20.1, or any 20.x version lower than 20.2.
  2. Confirm InDesign is present
    Search for InDesign application in the system: On Windows, look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\. On macOS, check /Applications/ for Adobe InDesign.
    Affected if InDesign Desktop is installed on the system.
  3. Identify trigger condition
    The vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malicious file. There is no configuration or feature flag that disables this; it is a parsing flaw in how InDesign handles certain file structures.
    Affected if A user with the vulnerable InDesign version opens a maliciously crafted .indd, .idml, or other InDesign file from an untrusted source.

The environment is affected if Adobe InDesign Desktop version is found to be below 19.5.3, or between 20.0 and 20.1.x inclusive, and the application is used to open 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 19.5.3 / 20.2 or later
Fixed in 19.5.320.2
Interim mitigation

Update InDesign to the latest patched version and avoid opening files from untrusted or unverified sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

InDesign 19.5.3 (for versions < 19.5.3) or InDesign 20.2 (for versions >= 20.0 and < 20.2)

  1. Verify current InDesign version by opening InDesign and navigating to Help > About InDesign
  2. Close InDesign completely before updating
  3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application
  4. Navigate to the Apps section
  5. Find Adobe InDesign in the installed apps list
  6. Click on Update next to InDesign to install the latest version
  7. Alternatively, download the update directly from helpx.adobe.com or the Adobe Creative Cloud downloads page
  8. Restart InDesign after the update completes
Caveat Standard Adobe update - review release notes for any feature changes or deprecated functionality

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-27175 — 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-2025-27175 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