CVE-2021-35993
📋 TL;DR
Adobe After Effects versions 18.2.1 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability when parsing malicious files. An attacker can achieve arbitrary code execution with the victim's privileges by tricking them into opening a specially crafted file. This affects all users running vulnerable versions of Adobe After Effects.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe After Effects
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise via arbitrary code execution with the current user's privileges, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement.
Likely Case
Malware installation or data exfiltration when users open malicious project files from untrusted sources.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if users only open files from trusted sources and have proper endpoint protection.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) but no authentication. No public exploit code known.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 18.2.2 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb21-54.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find Adobe After Effects. 4. Click 'Update' button. 5. Restart computer after installation completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allOnly open After Effects project files from trusted sources. Implement application whitelisting.
Use sandboxing
allRun Adobe After Effects in a sandboxed environment or virtual machine.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application control to block execution of malicious payloads
- Use email/web filtering to block malicious file attachments and downloads
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe After Effects version: Help > About After Effects. If version is 18.2.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check 'Help > About After Effects'. On macOS: Adobe After Effects > About After Effects.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 18.2.2 or later in Help > About After Effects.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected process crashes of After Effects
- Suspicious child processes spawned from After Effects
Network Indicators:
- Unusual outbound connections from After Effects process
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent_process_name contains 'After Effects' and (process_name contains 'cmd.exe' or process_name contains 'powershell.exe' or process_name contains suspicious executable)