CVE-2025-54226
📋 TL;DR
Adobe InDesign has a use-after-free vulnerability that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of InDesign Desktop versions 20.4, 19.5.4 and earlier. Successful exploitation requires user interaction through opening a crafted file.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InDesign Desktop
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise with attacker gaining full control of the victim's computer in the context of the current user.
Likely Case
Malicious code execution leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or installation of persistent backdoors.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if users only open trusted files and have proper endpoint protection.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). No public exploit code available at this time.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to InDesign 20.5 or 19.5.5
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/indesign/apsb25-79.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find Adobe InDesign. 4. Click 'Update' button. 5. Restart computer after installation completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allConfigure application control policies to restrict opening of untrusted InDesign files.
Sandbox execution
allRun InDesign in sandboxed or isolated environment when opening untrusted files.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of malicious code
- Educate users to never open InDesign files from untrusted sources
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check InDesign version via Help > About InDesign. If version is 20.4 or earlier, or 19.5.4 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check via Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. On macOS: Check via Applications folder > Right-click InDesign > Get Info.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 20.5 or later, or 19.5.5 or later after applying update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected InDesign crashes
- Suspicious child processes spawned from InDesign
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from InDesign to unknown IPs
SIEM Query:
process_name:"InDesign.exe" AND (event_type:process_creation OR event_type:crash)