IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-43558

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 19.5.4 / 20.3 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 ID20.2, ID19.5.3 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 confidence

Adobe InDesign Desktop contains an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in versions ID20.2, ID19.5.3 and earlier. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious InDesign file (INDD), the vulnerability allows memory corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution within the context of the current user's privileges.

MitigationUsers should refrain from opening InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources. Organizations should deploy the vendor patch when available and consider implementing application whitelisting or file-opening restrictions for InDesign as a defense-in-depth measure.

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:< 19.5.4>= 20.0, < 20.3

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. Check InDesign version on Windows
    Open Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\(version folder). Look for the 'Version' value in the right pane, or check the folder name under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign for the installed version folder.
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 19.5.4, or is 20.0, 20.1, or 20.2
  2. Check InDesign version on macOS
    Open Finder, navigate to /Applications/Adobe InDesign (version)/Adobe InDesign (version).app, right-click and select Get Info, or run the application and go to Help > About Adobe InDesign to view the version number.
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 19.5.4, or is 20.0, 20.1, or 20.2
  3. Verify exact version string
    Confirm the full version number by opening InDesign and navigating to Help > About Adobe InDesign (Windows) or Adobe InDesign > About Adobe InDesign (macOS). Note the complete version string including any subversion numbers.
    Affected if The version falls within these affected ranges: version 19.x.x where x.x is less than 19.5.4; OR version 20.0.x through 20.2.x (20.0, 20.1, or 20.2). Versions 19.5.4 and above, or 20.3 and above, are NOT affected.

You are affected if your installed InDesign version is any 19.x version below 19.5.4, or any 20.x version between 20.0 and 20.2 inclusive.

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 19.5.4 / 20.3 or later
Fixed in 19.5.420.3
Interim mitigation

Users should refrain from opening InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources. Organizations should deploy the vendor patch when available and consider implementing application whitelisting or file-opening restrictions for InDesign as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe InDesign 19.5.4 or later for the 19.x branch; Adobe InDesign 20.3 or later for the 20.x branch

  1. 1. Determine the currently installed Adobe InDesign version by opening InDesign and navigating to Help > About InDesign
  2. 2. If using InDesign version 19.x (e.g., 19.5.3 or earlier), upgrade to version 19.5.4 or later
  3. 3. If using InDesign version 20.x (e.g., 20.0, 20.1, or 20.2), upgrade to version 20.3 or later
  4. 4. Download the fixed version from the official Adobe website or use the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application to update
  5. 5. After installation, verify the new version by checking Help > About InDesign to confirm the update was successful
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
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-43558 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