CVE-2025-27176
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 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 · moderate confidenceInDesign Desktop versions ID20.1, ID19.5.2 and earlier contain a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability when parsing maliciously crafted files. An attacker can exploit this by tricking a user into opening a crafted file, causing the application to crash and resulting in denial of service.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed InDesign versionOpen Adobe InDesign and go to Help > About Adobe InDesign (or Help > About InDesign on Mac), or check the application version through your system software inventory/packaging toolAffected if The version shown is earlier than 19.5.3, or is 20.0, 20.1, or 20.1.x (versions prior to 20.2)
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Identify InDesign file handlersLook for .indd, .idml, .inx, or .idmlk file extensions associated with InDesign on the system using file explorer or command line (dir *.indd /s on Windows or find ~ -name "*.indd" on Unix-like systems)Affected if Any InDesign file types are registered on the system, indicating InDesign is installed and capable of opening these files
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Confirm file association behaviorRight-click any .indd file and verify it opens with Adobe InDesign application, or check Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\InDesign.exe (or Mac equivalent in Application folder)Affected if InDesign executable is present and configured to handle these file types, meaning the application can be triggered by opening a crafted file
A user is affected if they have Adobe InDesign installed with a version lower than 19.5.3 or between 20.0 and 20.1.x inclusive, and the application can open InDesign files.
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
Update to a patched version of Adobe InDesign when available. Until then, enforce a policy of not opening InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources, and scan all incoming files with endpoint protection tools.
Adobe InDesign 19.5.3 or 20.2 (depending on your major version branch)
- 1. Open Adobe InDesign and go to Help > About InDesign to identify the current installed version
- 2. If version is 19.x (19.5.2 or earlier), plan to upgrade to version 19.5.3
- 3. If version is 20.x (20.0 or 20.1), plan to upgrade to version 20.2
- 4. Close Adobe InDesign completely
- 5. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application and navigate to the Apps tab
- 6. Find Adobe InDesign in the installed apps list and click Update, or manually download the update from helpx.adobe.com
- 6. Wait for the update to download and install completely
- 7. Restart InDesign and verify the version matches the target fixed release (19.5.3 or 20.2)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-27176 — 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-2025-27176 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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- 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
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