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After EffectsApplication · Adobe

CVE-2026-21350

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 25.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could lead to application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, causing disruption to services. 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 a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in file parsing functionality. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application attempts to dereference a null pointer, causing a crash and resulting in denial-of-service.

MitigationUpdate After Effects to a version newer than 25.6 when a patch is available, and avoid opening files from untrusted or unknown 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Determine installed After Effects version
    Open After Effects and navigate to Help > About After Effects, or check the version listed in the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application under the installed apps section
    Affected if The version shown is 25.6.4 or lower, or any version before 25.6.4 such as 25.6, 25.5, 25.0, or earlier releases
  2. Confirm the specific version number
    Locate the exact version build number in the About dialog (for example, 25.6.1.4) and compare the full version string against the 25.6.4 threshold
    Affected if The numeric version component before .4 is 25.6 or lower, indicating the installed version is in the affected range
  3. Verify file parsing will occur
    The vulnerability triggers when After Effects opens project files. No specific feature toggle is required since the file parsing module processes files automatically upon opening
    Affected if Any user who opens files in After Effects is subject to the vulnerable code path, as the file parsing functionality is always active when loading project files

The environment is affected if After Effects version is less than 25.6.4, as the NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the file parsing code used when opening any project file.

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 when a patch is available, and avoid opening files from untrusted or unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe After Effects 25.6.4 or later

  1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or navigate to helpx.adobe.com
  2. Check the Updates section to find After Effects
  3. Locate Adobe After Effects version 25.6.4 or later
  4. Click Update to download and install the fixed version
  5. Alternatively, download the installer directly from Adobe's official website for After Effects
  6. Restart After Effects after the update completes
  7. Verify the installed version is 25.6.4 or higher via Help > About After Effects
Caveat Minor version upgrades typically have minimal breaking changes; however, always backup projects before updating

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
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $880
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,408.

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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-2026-21350 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