CVE-2025-61824
📋 TL;DR
A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe InDesign allows attackers to execute arbitrary code when a user opens a malicious file. This affects users of InDesign Desktop versions 20.5, 19.5.5 and earlier. Successful exploitation requires user interaction but could lead to full system compromise.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe InDesign Desktop
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system takeover with the current user's privileges, allowing data theft, ransomware deployment, or persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Malware installation leading to data exfiltration, credential theft, or lateral movement within the network.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if file execution is blocked or user privileges are restricted, potentially causing application crashes only.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). No public exploit code is currently available.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 20.5.1 and 19.5.6
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/indesign/apsb25-106.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application
2. Navigate to 'Apps' section
3. Find Adobe InDesign and click 'Update'
4. Restart computer after update completes
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Block InDesign file execution via application control
allPrevent execution of InDesign files from untrusted sources using application whitelisting or blocking policies.
Disable InDesign file preview in Windows Explorer
windowsPrevent automatic file parsing by disabling preview handlers for InDesign files.
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers" /v "{F3B06C75-B0ED-475F-A15C-6F9D7B786C6F}" /t REG_SZ /d "" /f
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application control to block InDesign execution from untrusted locations
- Educate users to never open InDesign files from unknown or untrusted sources
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check InDesign version via Help > About InDesign. If version is 20.5, 19.5.5 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign\*\*\*" | Select-Object Version | On macOS: /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\ */Adobe\ InDesign.app/Contents/Info.plistVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 20.5.1 or 19.5.6 or later in Help > About InDesign.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected InDesign crashes with memory access violations
- InDesign processes spawning child processes like cmd.exe or powershell.exe
- File creation/modification events from InDesign process in unusual locations
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from InDesign process to unknown IP addresses
- DNS queries for suspicious domains from systems running InDesign
SIEM Query:
process_name:"indesign.exe" AND (process_child_name:"cmd.exe" OR process_child_name:"powershell.exe")