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After EffectsApplication · Adobe

CVE-2026-21318

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 25.6.4 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
After Effects versions 25.6 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 After Effects versions 25.6 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that allows an attacker to write data beyond allocated memory boundaries. Successful exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious After Effects file, resulting in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user's privileges.

MitigationApply the vendor patch when released; until then, refrain from opening untrusted After Effects project files and consider restricting usage to trusted sources.

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
After EffectsApplication
Affected:< 25.6.4

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 After Effects installation
    On Windows, check Program Files/Adobe/Adobe After Effects for the application folder, or search for 'After Effects' in Add/Remove Programs. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe After Effects.app.
    Affected if After Effects is installed on the system
  2. Identify installed After Effects version
    Windows: Right-click After Effects.exe, select Properties, view Version tab. macOS: Right-click Adobe After Effects.app, select Get Info, view Version number. Alternatively, run 'afterfx' -v from command line if available.
    Affected if Version displayed is 25.6 or earlier, or any version below 25.6.4
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare your identified version number to the affected range: versions < 25.6.4 are vulnerable. Versions 25.6.4 and later are not affected.
    Affected if Installed version is less than 25.6.4 (for example, 25.6, 25.5, 25.0, etc.)
  4. Assess file opening exposure
    Determine if the After Effects installation can be used to open project files from any location, including downloaded or received files. Check if file type associations (.aep, .aepx) are registered.
    Affected if The application can open project files and no organizational restrictions exist on opening untrusted files

You are affected if Adobe After Effects is installed with a version lower than 25.6.4 and the application can be used to open project files from untrusted sources.

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 25.6.4 or later
Fixed in 25.6.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch when released; until then, refrain from opening untrusted After Effects project files and consider restricting usage to trusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

25.6.4

  1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or After Effects
  2. Navigate to the Updates section to check for available updates
  3. Locate After Effects update in the available updates list
  4. Click Update to download and install version 25.6.4 or later
  5. Alternatively, download the latest version directly from helpx.adobe.com/after-effects.html
  6. Launch After Effects and verify the version by going to Help > About After Effects to confirm version 25.6.4 or newer is installed

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

Fix this in After Effects Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2026-21318 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