CVE-2025-54240
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-54240 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe After Effects that could expose memory contents and potentially disclose sensitive information when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of After Effects versions 25.3, 24.6.7 and earlier who open untrusted project files.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe After Effects
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker could craft a malicious After Effects project file that, when opened, reads sensitive data from memory such as passwords, encryption keys, or other application data, leading to information disclosure.
Likely Case
Limited information disclosure from application memory, potentially exposing some user data or system information but unlikely to lead to full system compromise.
If Mitigated
With proper controls, users only open trusted files, preventing exploitation entirely.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file) and knowledge of memory layout.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Update to After Effects 25.4 or 24.6.8 as specified in APSB25-86
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb25-86.html
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to 'Apps' tab. 3. Find After Effects and click 'Update'. 4. Alternatively, download from Adobe website and install over existing version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file opening
allOnly open After Effects project files from trusted sources
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of malicious files
- Educate users to never open After Effects files from untrusted sources
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check After Effects version via Help > About After EffectsCheck Version:
On Windows: Check via Creative Cloud app or Help > About. On macOS: After Effects > About After EffectsVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 25.4 or higher, or 24.6.8 or higher📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes or unusual memory access patterns in After Effects logs
Network Indicators:
- No network indicators - local file exploitation only
SIEM Query:
Process:After Effects AND (EventID:1000 OR ExceptionCode:0xC0000005) OR FileAccess:*.aep from untrusted sources