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IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-54224

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 19.5.5 / 20.5 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 20.4, 19.5.4 and earlier are affected by a Use After Free 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

This is a Use After Free (UAF) vulnerability in Adobe InDesign Desktop versions 20.4, 19.5.4 and earlier. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application improperly handles memory after freeing it, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user session.

MitigationApply the vendor patch by updating InDesign to the latest version. Until patched, warn users not to open untrusted .indd files and consider endpoint detection monitoring.

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:< 19.5.5>= 20.0, < 20.5

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. Confirm Adobe InDesign is installed
    Check for InDesign installation: On Windows, look in 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign' or check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ for entries containing 'Adobe InDesign'. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe InDesign.app.
    Affected if InDesign is not installed on the system - the CVE only applies if the vulnerable software is present
  2. Retrieve the installed InDesign version number
    On Windows, right-click the InDesign executable or DLL, select Properties, and view the Details tab for Version. Alternatively, run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign" /v InstallVersion' if the registry key exists. On macOS, right-click Adobe InDesign.app in /Applications, select Get Info, and note the Version number.
    Affected if Unable to determine the version - version must be identified to assess vulnerability
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Analyze the version number: For 19.x releases, check if the version is earlier than 19.5.5 (for example, 19.5.4, 19.5.3, 19.4, etc.). For 20.x releases, check if the version is 20.0 through 20.4.x. Versions 19.5.5 and later, and 20.5 and later, are NOT affected.
    Affected if Version is 19.x less than 19.5.5, OR version is 20.0 through 20.4.x - either of these ranges indicates the installed version is vulnerable

If Adobe InDesign is installed and the version falls below 19.5.5 for 19.x releases, or between 20.0 and 20.4.x for 20.x releases, the environment is affected by this CVE.

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 19.5.5 / 20.5 or later
Fixed in 19.5.520.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch by updating InDesign to the latest version. Until patched, warn users not to open untrusted .indd files and consider endpoint detection monitoring.

Recommended fix High confidence

InDesign 19.5.5 or later for the 19.x branch; InDesign 20.5 or later for the 20.x branch

  1. 1. Close all running instances of Adobe InDesign
  2. 2. Back up any important InDesign documents and preferences
  3. 3. For InDesign version 19.x: Navigate to the Creative Cloud desktop application or visit helpx.adobe.com to download and install version 19.5.5 or later
  4. 4. For InDesign version 20.x: Navigate to the Creative Cloud desktop application or visit helpx.adobe.com to download and install version 20.5 or later
  5. 5. Verify the installed version by opening InDesign and checking Help > About InDesign
  6. 6. Re-open the application and confirm normal functionality
Caveat Minor: Some legacy plug-ins or scripts may require verification for compatibility with the new version

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

Fix this in Indesign Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2025-54224 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