CVE-2026-27285
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 · uneditedInDesign Desktop versions 20.5.2, 21.2 and earlier are affected by a Heap-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability that could lead to application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application or disrupt its functionality. 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 confidenceAdobe InDesign Desktop versions 20.5.2, 21.2 and earlier contain a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability that can be triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malicious file. This memory corruption leads to application crashes or denial-of-service conditions.
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< 20.5.3>= 21.0, < 21.3CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate installed InDesign Desktop versionOpen InDesign and go to Help > About Adobe InDesign (Windows) or InDesign > About InDesign (Mac), or right-click the application in Programs/Applications and select Get Info to view the versionAffected if Version number displayed is below 20.5.3 (for 20.x releases) OR between 21.0 and 21.2 inclusive (for 21.x releases)
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Confirm exact version stringRecord the full version number shown (for example: 20.5.2, 21.2.0, 20.5.1, 21.1.0)Affected if Version shows 20.5.2 or any earlier 20.x release, or shows any 21.0.x through 21.2.x release
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Determine exposure to file-based attack vectorThis vulnerability triggers when a user opens a specially crafted malicious .indd or related InDesign file - assess whether users in your environment can open files from untrusted or external sourcesAffected if Users have ability to open InDesign files from untrusted or unknown sources, making them potential targets for this file-based exploit
Your environment is affected if InDesign Desktop is installed with any version below 20.5.3 in the 20.x branch, or any version from 21.0 through 21.2 in the 21.x branch, and users can open potentially malicious InDesign files.
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 · scoped20.5.321.3
Apply the vendor security update to InDesign Desktop versions 20.5.2, 21.2 and later. Users should avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited InDesign files, and organizations should implement file-type restrictions at email gateways to block suspicious attachments.
InDesign 20.5.3 or later, OR InDesign 21.3 or later
- Close Adobe InDesign completely before updating
- Navigate to Adobe's official support page at helpx.adobe.com to download the latest version
- Download InDesign version 20.5.3 or later (for the 20.x branch) OR version 21.3 or later (for the 21.x branch)
- Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the update
- Verify the installed version matches a fixed release (20.5.3+, 21.3+)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-27285 — 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-2026-27285 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