CVE-2024-52990
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Animate versions 23.0.8, 24.0.5 and earlier contain a buffer underflow vulnerability that could allow arbitrary code execution when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users running vulnerable versions of Adobe Animate on any operating system where the software is installed.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Animate
📦 What is this software?
Animate by Adobe
Animate by Adobe
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete 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 or malware execution when a user opens a maliciously crafted Animate file, potentially leading to credential theft or data exfiltration.
If Mitigated
No impact if users don't open untrusted Animate files and the software is properly patched or isolated.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and buffer manipulation expertise.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 23.0.9 and 24.0.6
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/animate/apsb24-96.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab 3. Find Adobe Animate 4. Click 'Update' button 5. Restart computer after update completes
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable automatic file opening
allConfigure system to not automatically open Animate files from untrusted sources
Application isolation
allRun Adobe Animate in isolated environment or virtual machine
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict user permissions to limit damage if exploited
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized code
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe Animate version via Help > About Adobe AnimateCheck Version:
On Windows: wmic product where name="Adobe Animate" get version || On macOS: /Applications/Adobe\ Animate\ */Adobe\ Animate.app/Contents/Info.plist | grep -A1 CFBundleShortVersionStringVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 23.0.9 or higher (for v23) or 24.0.6 or higher (for v24)📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected process creation from Animate.exe
- Memory access violations in application logs
- Unusual file opens from Animate process
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from Animate process to unknown IPs
- DNS requests for suspicious domains from Animate
SIEM Query:
process_name:"Animate.exe" AND (event_type:"process_creation" OR event_type:"file_access") AND NOT user_action:"expected_workflow"