CVE-2025-21124
📋 TL;DR
Adobe InDesign has an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could allow attackers to read sensitive memory contents when users open malicious files. This could help bypass security mitigations like ASLR. Affected users are those running vulnerable versions of InDesign Desktop.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InDesign Desktop
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Memory disclosure enables ASLR bypass, potentially facilitating more severe attacks like remote code execution through chained exploits.
Likely Case
Information disclosure of memory contents, which could reveal sensitive data or system information.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper file handling controls and patching are implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and memory manipulation expertise.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: ID20.0.1 and ID19.5.2 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/indesign/apsb25-01.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find InDesign and click 'Update'. 4. Restart computer after installation completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file handling
allConfigure InDesign to only open files from trusted sources using application restrictions.
Disable automatic file opening
allConfigure system to prompt before opening InDesign files from unknown sources.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict user permissions to only open InDesign files from trusted network locations
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized InDesign instances
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check InDesign version via Help > About InDesign. If version is ID20.0, ID19.5.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: wmic product where "name like 'Adobe InDesign%'" get version
On macOS: /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\ */Adobe\ InDesign.app/Contents/Info.plist | grep -A1 CFBundleShortVersionStringVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is ID20.0.1, ID19.5.2 or later via Help > About InDesign.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- InDesign crash logs with memory access violations
- Unexpected file opening events in application logs
Network Indicators:
- Downloads of InDesign files from untrusted sources
SIEM Query:
source="*indesign*" AND (event_type="crash" OR file_extension="indd" OR file_extension="indl")