CVE-2022-28835
📋 TL;DR
Adobe InCopy versions 17.1 and earlier (and 16.4.1 and earlier) contain a use-after-free vulnerability that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on a victim's system. This requires user interaction where someone opens a malicious file. Users running affected versions are at risk of compromise.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InCopy
📦 What is this software?
Incopy by Adobe
Incopy by Adobe
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise with attacker gaining the same privileges as the current user, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement.
Likely Case
Malicious document execution leading to malware installation, credential theft, or data exfiltration from the affected workstation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to application sandboxing or restricted user privileges, potentially containing the exploit to the application context.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). No public exploit code has been disclosed as of analysis date.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 17.2 and 16.4.2
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/incopy/apsb22-28.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe InCopy. 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates. 3. Follow prompts to install version 17.2 or 16.4.2. 4. Restart the application.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allConfigure application to only open trusted files or disable automatic opening of certain file types.
Run with reduced privileges
windowsRun Adobe InCopy with limited user privileges to reduce impact if exploited.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized applications
- Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for suspicious file execution
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe InCopy version via Help > About InCopy. If version is 17.1 or earlier, or 16.4.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: wmic product where name="Adobe InCopy" get versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 17.2 or higher (for 17.x branch) or 16.4.2 or higher (for 16.x branch).📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected application crashes
- Suspicious file opening events in application logs
- Process creation from Adobe InCopy with unusual parameters
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from Adobe InCopy to unknown IPs
- DNS requests for suspicious domains after file opening
SIEM Query:
source="*adobe*" AND (event_type="process_creation" AND parent_process="incopy.exe") OR (event_type="file_access" AND process="incopy.exe" AND file_extension IN ("icml", "indd", "incx"))