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FramemakerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-54230

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2020.9 / 2022.7 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
Adobe Framemaker versions 2020.8, 2022.6 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

Adobe Framemaker versions 2020.8, 2022.6 and earlier contain a Use After Free vulnerability that allows arbitrary code execution when a victim opens a specially crafted malicious file. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management where freed memory is accessed after deallocation, enabling an attacker to overwrite function pointers or object vtables to achieve code execution.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security patch for Adobe Framemaker to address the memory corruption issue. Until patched, avoid opening files from untrusted sources and implement endpoint detection to monitor for suspicious Framemaker file activity.

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
FramemakerApplication
Affected:< 2020.9>= 2022, < 2022.7

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. Verify Adobe Framemaker is installed
    On Windows, open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ or check for the Framemaker application in Programs and Features. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Framemaker.
    Affected if Adobe Framemaker software is present on the system
  2. Determine installed Framemaker version
    In Windows, open Registry Editor and go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Framemaker\ (or HKCU\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Framemaker\) and read the Version value. Alternatively, launch Framemaker and go to Help > About Adobe Framemaker to see the exact version number.
    Affected if The installed version is < 2020.9 or >= 2022 but < 2022.7
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Review the version number obtained from the previous step against the affected ranges: versions before 2020.9 and versions 2022.0 through 2022.6 are vulnerable. Versions 2020.9 and later 2022.7 and above are not affected.
    Affected if The installed version falls within < 2020.9 or >= 2022.0 and < 2022.7
  4. Assess file opening exposure
    Review recent Framemaker file activity by checking the application's recent files list (File > Open > look for recently opened .fm or .book files) or examine filesystem access logs for .fm and .book files opened from network shares or download directories.
    Affected if Users have opened .fm or .book files from untrusted or unknown sources

A system is affected by this CVE if Adobe Framemaker versions 2020.8 and earlier or versions 2022.0 through 2022.6 are installed and users may open untrusted Framemaker documents.

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 2020.9 / 2022.7 or later
Fixed in 2020.92022.7
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security patch for Adobe Framemaker to address the memory corruption issue. Until patched, avoid opening files from untrusted sources and implement endpoint detection to monitor for suspicious Framemaker file activity.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Framemaker 2020.9 or later, or Adobe Framemaker 2022.7 or later

  1. 1. Check the currently installed Adobe Framemaker version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Framemaker
  2. 2. Download Adobe Framemaker 2020.9 or later (for 2020.x users) or version 2022.7 or later (for 2022.x users) from the official Adobe website at helpx.adobe.com
  3. 3. Alternatively, open the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application and navigate to the Framemaker application to check for available updates
  4. 4. Run the installer for the updated version and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
  5. 5. After installation, verify the version by checking Help > About Adobe Framemaker to confirm the version number matches the patched release

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

Fix this in Framemaker Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-54230 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