CVE-2024-41853
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2024-41853 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe InDesign that could allow arbitrary code execution when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of InDesign Desktop versions ID19.4, ID18.5.2 and earlier. Successful exploitation requires user interaction through opening a specially crafted file.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InDesign Desktop
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ 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
Local code execution allowing malware installation, credential theft, or file system access within the user's context.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if user has minimal privileges, application sandboxing is enabled, or file execution is blocked.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). No public exploit code available as per advisory.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: ID19.5 and ID18.5.3
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/indesign/apsb24-56.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find InDesign and click 'Update'. 4. Alternatively, download from Adobe website. 5. Install update and restart system.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Block InDesign file execution
allUse application control to block execution of InDesign files from untrusted sources.
User awareness training
allTrain users not to open InDesign files from unknown or untrusted sources.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict user privileges to minimum required for job functions.
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized InDesign execution.
- Use email filtering to block suspicious InDesign file attachments.
- Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) to monitor for exploitation attempts.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check InDesign version via Help > About InDesign. If version is ID19.4 or earlier, or ID18.5.2 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check via Creative Cloud app or InDesign Help menu. On macOS: InDesign > About InDesign.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is ID19.5 or later, or ID18.5.3 or later after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected InDesign crashes
- Suspicious child processes spawned from InDesign
- File creation/modification by InDesign process
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from InDesign to unknown IPs
- DNS requests for suspicious domains from InDesign process
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent_process_name contains 'indesign' and (process_name not in ['adobe', 'indesign', 'acrobat']) OR File creation where process_name contains 'indesign' and file_extension in ['.exe', '.dll', '.ps1']