CVE-2020-9637
📋 TL;DR
Adobe After Effects versions 17.1 and earlier contain a heap overflow vulnerability (CWE-787) that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. This affects users running vulnerable versions of After Effects on any supported operating system. Successful exploitation requires the victim to open a malicious file.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe After Effects
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise with attacker gaining the same privileges as the user running After Effects, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution within the context of the user running After Effects, allowing attackers to access sensitive project files and system resources.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if systems are properly segmented, users operate with minimal privileges, and malicious files are blocked at network boundaries.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and knowledge of heap manipulation techniques.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 17.1.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb20-35.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find After Effects and click 'Update'. 4. Restart After Effects after update completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allConfigure system policies to prevent opening After Effects project files from untrusted sources
Application sandboxing
allRun After Effects in sandboxed/isolated environment to limit potential damage
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate affected systems from critical network segments
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized code
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check After Effects version via Help > About After Effects. If version is 17.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\XX.X\Version (where XX.X is version number). On macOS: Check /Applications/Adobe After Effects XX.X/Adobe After Effects XX.X.app/Contents/Info.plistVerify Fix Applied:
Verify After Effects version is 17.1.1 or later via Help > About After Effects.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected crashes of After Effects
- Unusual process creation from After Effects executable
- File access to suspicious project files
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from After Effects to unknown IPs
- DNS requests for suspicious domains from After Effects process
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent_process_name contains 'After Effects' and (process_name not in allowed_list OR command_line contains suspicious_patterns)