Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a low-severity Adobe Bridge issue where opening a malicious crafted file could expose small amounts of memory from the current user’s session. It does not provide code execution or system takeover in the cited sources, and it requires user interaction.
Executive priority
Treat as routine patch management unless Adobe Bridge is heavily used with untrusted files. The business risk is mainly targeted information disclosure, not broad compromise.
Technical view
CVE-2021-21091 is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in Adobe Bridge HEIC file parsing. A local, unauthenticated attacker must convince a user to open a crafted file. The CVSS 3.0 score is 3.3, with low confidentiality impact and no integrity or availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to systems running Adobe Bridge 10.1.1 and earlier or 11.0.1 and earlier, especially user workstations that process externally supplied media files.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not report active exploitation, and CISA KEV is false. Practical exploitation depends on social engineering or file delivery to a user who opens the malicious file.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports a parser out-of-bounds read with user interaction and low confidentiality impact. The provided bundle does not include exploit maturity, observed exploitation, or detailed fixed version data.
Mitigation direction
- Check Adobe APSB21-23 for the vendor-approved update path and apply it.
- Inventory Adobe Bridge installations and prioritize affected versions for remediation.
- Limit handling of untrusted HEIC or media files on affected systems.
- Use endpoint controls to reduce risky file delivery to creative workstations.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Adobe Bridge is installed on managed endpoints.
- Identify versions 10.1.1 and earlier or 11.0.1 and earlier.
- Verify remediation status against Adobe APSB21-23 guidance.
- Review exposure for teams that receive external media files.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-125: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-21091 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Low
- CVSS
- 3.3 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N1.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
3.3LowVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/bridge/apsb21-23.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-413/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Out-of-bounds Read
Out-of-bounds Read represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.