CVE-2026-21320
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 · uneditedAfter Effects versions 25.6 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 confidenceUse After Free vulnerability in Adobe After Effects versions 25.6 and earlier allows arbitrary code execution in the current user's context. The vulnerability is triggered when a victim opens a malicious file, requiring user interaction for exploitation.
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< 25.6.4CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Adobe After Effects is installedCheck for After Effects installation directory (Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects or macOS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects), or search for 'After Effects' in installed programsAffected if After Effects is present on the system
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Retrieve the installed version numberOpen Adobe After Effects and go to Help > About After Effects, or check the version in the Creative Cloud desktop app under the After Effects entryAffected if Version shown is less than 25.6.4 (e.g., 25.6, 25.5, 24.x, etc.)
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Compare against affected version rangeCompare your installed version to the vulnerable range: any version earlier than 25.6.4Affected if Installed version is 25.6.4 or lower (the vulnerability exists in versions up to and including 25.6)
If Adobe After Effects is installed and the version is 25.6.4 or lower, the environment is affected by this Use After Free vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped25.6.4
Update After Effects to a version newer than 25.6. Avoid opening files from untrusted or unknown sources.
Adobe After Effects 25.6.4
- 1. Close any running instances of Adobe After Effects
- 2. Back up current project files and preferences if desired
- 3. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to adobe.com
- 4. Locate Adobe After Effects in the available updates or products section
- 5. Download and install After Effects version 25.6.4 or later
- 6. Restart the system after installation completes
- 7. Launch After Effects and verify the version number matches 25.6.4 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-21320 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-21320 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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