CVE-2020-3785
📋 TL;DR
This is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Photoshop that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. Users running Photoshop CC 2019 versions 20.0.8 and earlier or Photoshop 2020 versions 21.1 and earlier are vulnerable. Successful exploitation could give attackers full control of the victim's system.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Photoshop CC 2019
- Adobe Photoshop 2020
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise with attacker gaining full administrative privileges, data theft, ransomware deployment, and persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation leading to malware installation, credential theft, and lateral movement within the network.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if Photoshop runs with minimal privileges, but still potential for user-level compromise and data exfiltration.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening a malicious PSD file). No public exploit code available at time of advisory.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Photoshop CC 2019: 20.0.9 or later; Photoshop 2020: 21.2 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/photoshop/apsb20-14.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find Photoshop in your installed apps. 4. Click 'Update' button. 5. Wait for download and installation. 6. Restart Photoshop when prompted.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict PSD file execution
allBlock execution of Photoshop files from untrusted sources
Run Photoshop with reduced privileges
windowsConfigure Photoshop to run with limited user permissions
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict Photoshop usage to trusted users only
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized Photoshop execution
- Educate users about risks of opening PSD files from unknown sources
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Photoshop version via Help > About Photoshop in the application menuCheck Version:
Photoshop: Help > About Photoshop; Windows: Check installed programs list; macOS: Check Applications folder or use 'system_profiler SPApplicationsDataType'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is Photoshop CC 2019 20.0.9+ or Photoshop 2020 21.2+📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Photoshop crash logs with memory access violations
- Unexpected Photoshop process spawning child processes
- Unusual file access patterns from Photoshop process
Network Indicators:
- Photoshop process making unexpected network connections
- Outbound connections from Photoshop to suspicious IPs
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent_process_name contains 'photoshop' AND (process_name contains 'cmd.exe' OR process_name contains 'powershell.exe' OR process_name contains 'sh' OR process_name contains 'bash')