CVE-2024-41836
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in Adobe InDesign that allows attackers to cause a denial-of-service by crashing the application. Users must open a malicious file to trigger the exploit. Affected users include anyone running vulnerable versions of InDesign Desktop.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InDesign Desktop
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete application crash leading to denial-of-service, potential data loss if unsaved work is open, and disruption of creative workflows.
Likely Case
Application crash when opening a malicious file, requiring restart of InDesign and potential loss of unsaved work.
If Mitigated
No impact if patches are applied or if users avoid opening untrusted files.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user to open a malicious file. No authentication bypass needed but requires social engineering.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: ID18.5.3 and ID19.4
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/indesign/apsb24-48.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to Updates section. 3. Install InDesign update to version ID18.5.3 or ID19.4. 4. Restart InDesign after installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Avoid opening untrusted files
allOnly open InDesign files from trusted sources to prevent exploitation.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of malicious files
- Use email filtering and endpoint protection to block malicious attachments
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check InDesign version via Help > About InDesign. If version is ID18.5.2 or earlier, or ID19.3 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check via Help > About InDesign. On macOS: InDesign > About InDesign.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify InDesign version is ID18.5.3 or later, or ID19.4 or later via Help > About InDesign.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crash logs from InDesign
- Unexpected termination events in system logs
Network Indicators:
- No network indicators - local file exploitation only
SIEM Query:
EventID=1000 OR EventID=1001 with process_name='InDesign.exe' OR 'Adobe InDesign'