CVE-2021-35996
📋 TL;DR
Adobe After Effects versions 18.2.1 and earlier contain a memory corruption 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 current user 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 trusted files and have proper endpoint protection.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) but no authentication. Memory corruption vulnerabilities often have reliable exploitation paths.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 18.2.2 or 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 to prevent execution of malicious files.
Enhanced file validation
allUse endpoint protection with file reputation services to scan and block suspicious After Effects files.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application control policies to restrict which users can run Adobe After Effects.
- Deploy network segmentation to isolate After Effects workstations from critical systems.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe After Effects version via Help > About After Effects. If version is 18.2.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\18.0\InstallPath. On macOS: Check /Applications/Adobe After Effects 2021/Adobe After Effects 2021.app/Contents/Info.plist for CFBundleVersion.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 18.2.2 or later in Help > About After Effects.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes of Adobe After Effects with memory access violations
- Unexpected child processes spawned from After Effects
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from After Effects process to suspicious IPs
- DNS queries for known malicious domains from After Effects
SIEM Query:
process_name:"AfterFX.exe" AND (event_id:1000 OR event_id:1001) OR parent_process_name:"AfterFX.exe" AND process_creation