CVE-2024-52988
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Animate versions 23.0.8, 24.0.5 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that could allow arbitrary code execution when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of Adobe Animate who open untrusted project files. The attacker could gain the same privileges as the current user.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Animate
📦 What is this software?
Animate by Adobe
Animate 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 persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation leading to user account compromise, data exfiltration, or malware installation on the affected system.
If Mitigated
No impact if users only open trusted files from verified sources and have proper endpoint protection.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). No public exploit code available at time of advisory.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to Animate 23.0.9 or 24.0.6
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/animate/apsb24-96.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Animate. 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates. 3. Follow prompts to install latest version. 4. Restart Animate after installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allOnly open .fla and other Animate files from trusted sources. Implement application whitelisting.
Use sandboxing
allRun Adobe Animate in a sandboxed environment or virtual machine when opening untrusted files.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application control policies to restrict execution of untrusted Animate files
- Use endpoint protection with behavioral analysis to detect malicious file execution attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe Animate version in Help > About Adobe Animate. If version is 23.0.8 or earlier, or 24.0.5 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check Add/Remove Programs for Adobe Animate version. On macOS: Check Applications folder > Adobe Animate > Get Info.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 23.0.9 or higher for version 23, or 24.0.6 or higher for version 24.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected process creation from Animate.exe
- Animate crash logs with memory access violations
- Unusual file access patterns from Animate process
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from Animate process to unexpected destinations
- DNS queries for suspicious domains from system running Animate
SIEM Query:
process_name:"Animate.exe" AND (event_type:"process_creation" OR event_type:"crash")