CVE-2025-21135
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Animate versions 24.0.6, 23.0.9 and earlier contain an integer underflow 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 or animations.
💻 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
Malware installation or data exfiltration through crafted Animate files, often delivered via phishing or compromised websites.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper user training and file validation controls in place, potentially just application crash.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction to open a malicious file, but the vulnerability itself is in core parsing logic.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to Animate 24.0.7 or 23.0.10
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/animate/apsb25-05.html
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab 3. Find Adobe Animate 4. Click 'Update' button 5. Follow on-screen instructions
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable automatic file opening
allConfigure system to not automatically open Animate files from untrusted sources
Use application sandboxing
allRun Adobe Animate in a sandboxed environment to limit potential damage
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict file validation policies to block untrusted Animate files
- Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) to monitor for suspicious Animate process behavior
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Animate version in Help > About Adobe AnimateCheck Version:
On Windows: wmic product where name='Adobe Animate' get version
On macOS: /Applications/Adobe\ Animate\ 2024/Adobe\ Animate\ 2024.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe\ Animate\ 2024 --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 24.0.7 or higher (for v24) or 23.0.10 or higher (for v23)📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Animate crash logs with memory access violations
- Unexpected child processes spawned from Animate
Network Indicators:
- Animate process making unexpected outbound connections after file open
SIEM Query:
process_name:"Animate.exe" AND (event_id:1000 OR event_id:1001) OR process_parent_name:"Animate.exe" AND process_name NOT IN ("expected_child_processes")