CVE-2025-27200
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Animate versions 24.0.7, 23.0.10 and earlier contain a use-after-free vulnerability that could allow arbitrary code execution when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of Adobe Animate on any operating system where the vulnerable versions are installed. The attacker needs to trick the user into opening a specially crafted file.
💻 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 code execution allowing malware installation, credential theft, or lateral movement within the network from the compromised user's context.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper application sandboxing, user privilege restrictions, and security software preventing malicious file execution.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and bypassing potential mitigations like ASLR/DEP. No public exploit code known at this time.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to Animate 24.0.8 or 23.0.11
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/animate/apsb25-31.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Animate. 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates. 3. Follow prompts to install update. 4. Restart Animate after installation completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allConfigure application control policies to prevent opening untrusted Animate files
Run with reduced privileges
windowsRun Adobe Animate with standard user privileges instead of administrator rights
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to block execution of malicious payloads
- Educate users to never open Animate files from untrusted sources
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Animate version via Help > About Animate. If version is 24.0.7 or earlier, or 23.0.10 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check Help > About Animate. On macOS: Adobe Animate > About AnimateVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 24.0.8 or later, or 23.0.11 or later after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected Animate crashes
- Animate spawning unusual child processes
- File access to suspicious locations
Network Indicators:
- Animate making unexpected outbound connections after file open
SIEM Query:
process_name:"Animate.exe" AND (event_id:1 OR parent_process_name:"Animate.exe")