After EffectsApplication · Adobe

CVE-2026-21327

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 · moderate confidence

After Effects versions 25.6 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could allow arbitrary code execution. Exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious file, making this a user-interaction-dependent attack vector.

MitigationUpdate After Effects to a version newer than 25.6 once the patch is released by Adobe. Until then, avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited files in After Effects.

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 is installed
    Check your system for the presence of Adobe After Effects. On Windows, look for After Effects in Program Files or check the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application. On macOS, check /Applications for After Effects or use the Creative Cloud app.
    Affected if After Effects is installed on the system
  2. Identify the installed After Effects version
    Open After Effects and go to Help > About After Effects to display the version number. Alternatively, check the Creative Cloud desktop app which lists installed application versions.
    Affected if The displayed version is below 25.6.4 (for example, 25.6, 25.5, 25.0, or any earlier version)
  3. Assess user interaction risk
    Determine whether the system runs After Effects and could potentially open files from untrusted or unsolicited sources. This vulnerability requires a user to open a malicious file.
    Affected if Users on this system open After Effects project files from unknown or untrusted sources

You are affected if Adobe After Effects is installed with any version prior to 25.6.4, as the out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in those versions and requires user interaction (opening a malicious file) to be exploited.

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

Update After Effects to a version newer than 25.6 once the patch is released by Adobe. Until then, avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited files in After Effects.

Recommended fix High confidence

25.6.4

  1. Close After Effects completely before updating
  2. Ensure all current projects are saved and backed up
  3. Update Adobe After Effects to version 25.6.4 or later through the Creative Cloud desktop application, or download from the official Adobe website
  4. Verify the update was successful by checking the version number in After Effects > Help > About After Effects

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

Fix this in After Effects 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
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-21327 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-21327 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