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IndesignApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-61814

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.5.1 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 20.5, 19.5.5 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

InDesign Desktop versions 20.5, 19.5.5 and earlier contain a Use After Free vulnerability where memory is accessed after being freed, allowing arbitrary code execution in the current user's context when a malicious file is opened.

MitigationUpdate InDesign to version 20.6 or later (or 19.5.6 or later for the 19.x branch) per Adobe's official security advisory, and avoid opening untrusted .indd files.

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, < 20.5.1

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 via Help menu
    Open InDesign, go to Help > About InDesign and note the version number displayed in the dialog
    Affected if The displayed version is 20.5.0 or earlier in the 20.x branch, OR 19.5.5 or earlier in the 19.x branch (or any 18.x/earlier version)
  2. Check InDesign version via Windows Registry
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\InstallKeys (or HKEY_CURRENT_USER for per-user installs), check the "InstallVersion" or "Version" value
    Affected if The version value starts with 20.5.0 or lower, or 19.5.5 or lower, or any 18.x or earlier version string
  3. Check InDesign version on macOS
    Open Finder, go to Applications > Adobe InDesign 2024 or 2025, right-click and select Get Info, or use GetFileInfo via Terminal
    Affected if The version shown is 20.5.0 or earlier in the 2025 version, or 19.5.5 or earlier in the 2024 version
  4. Verify exact version against CVE range
    The CVE affects: versions <= 19.5.5, AND versions >= 20.0 but < 20.5.1. If you are on 20.5.1 or later, or 19.5.6 or later, you are NOT in the affected range
    Affected if Your installed version falls within <= 19.5.5 OR (>= 20.0 AND < 20.5.1)
  5. Confirm the attack vector requirement
    This vulnerability requires a user to open a malicious .indd file. Check if your workflow involves opening InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources
    Affected if You regularly open .indd files from untrusted or unknown sources, and your version is in the affected range

You are affected if your installed InDesign version is 20.5.0 or earlier in the 20.x branch, or 19.5.5 or earlier in the 19.x branch (or any older version), and you open untrusted .indd 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 20.5.1 or later
Fixed in 20.5.1
Interim mitigation

Update InDesign to version 20.6 or later (or 19.5.6 or later for the 19.x branch) per Adobe's official security advisory, and avoid opening untrusted .indd files.

Recommended fix High confidence

InDesign Desktop 20.5.1 or later

  1. Back up all important InDesign projects and settings before updating
  2. Navigate to the Adobe InDesign download page or use Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application to check for updates
  3. Download InDesign Desktop version 20.5.1 or later from Adobe's official website (helpx.adobe.com)
  4. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
  5. Restart your computer if prompted and verify the InDesign version by going to Help > About InDesign
Caveat Adobe updates typically maintain backward compatibility for project files; minor version differences usually do not break existing work

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
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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-2025-61814 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