CVE-2025-27186
📋 TL;DR
Adobe After Effects versions 25.1, 24.6.4 and earlier contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could allow attackers to read sensitive memory contents. This could potentially bypass security mitigations like ASLR, though exploitation requires user interaction through opening a malicious file. Users of affected After Effects versions are at risk.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe After Effects
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker could read sensitive memory contents, potentially bypassing ASLR to enable more sophisticated attacks or extract confidential information from the application's memory space.
Likely Case
Limited information disclosure from memory, potentially revealing some system or application data but unlikely to lead to full system compromise without additional vulnerabilities.
If Mitigated
With proper controls, the impact is limited to potential information disclosure from the application's memory space, with no direct code execution or system compromise.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and knowledge of memory layout. No public exploits have been reported as of the advisory date.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to After Effects 25.2 or later, or 24.6.5 or later for version 24.x
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb25-23.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to the 'Apps' section. 3. Find Adobe After Effects. 4. Click 'Update' if available. 5. Alternatively, download the latest version from Adobe's website. 6. Restart After Effects after installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allOnly open After Effects files from trusted sources and avoid opening unexpected or suspicious files.
Application sandboxing
allRun After Effects in a sandboxed environment to limit potential impact of memory disclosure.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict file handling policies to only open trusted After Effects project files
- Monitor for suspicious file activity and educate users about the risks of opening untrusted files
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check After Effects version via Help > About After Effects. If version is 25.1, 24.6.4 or earlier, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
In After Effects: Help > About After EffectsVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify version is 25.2 or later, or 24.6.5 or later for version 24.x via Help > About After Effects.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected application crashes
- Memory access violation errors in application logs
- Suspicious file opening events
Network Indicators:
- No direct network indicators as exploitation requires local file access
SIEM Query:
Application logs containing 'After Effects' AND ('crash' OR 'memory' OR 'access violation')