Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-28602 is a high-severity Adobe After Effects flaw where opening a maliciously crafted file could let an attacker run code as the signed-in user. The main business risk is compromise of creative workstations through file-based phishing or asset intake workflows.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for creative, marketing, design, and production teams that exchange files externally. This is not described as remotely exploitable without user action, but successful exploitation could give full user-context compromise.
Technical view
Adobe After Effects 18.2 and earlier are described as affected by a CWE-787 memory corruption issue during file parsing. CVSS 3.1 is 7.8 with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on workstations running Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier, especially where users open externally supplied project, media, template, or collaboration files.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious file, so risk depends heavily on user file-handling workflows.
Researcher notes
The affected-version data is partly imprecise in the bundle: the narrative says 18.2 and earlier, while the affected array lists unspecified versions. Treat Adobe APSB21-49 as the authoritative remediation reference.
Mitigation direction
- Review Adobe APSB21-49 and apply vendor-recommended remediation.
- Identify and update or retire After Effects 18.2 and earlier installations.
- Restrict opening untrusted After Effects files until remediation is confirmed.
- Use least-privilege user accounts for creative workstation activity.
- Strengthen email and file-transfer controls for creative asset intake.
Validation and detection
- Inventory endpoints for installed Adobe After Effects versions.
- Confirm whether any installations are version 18.2 or earlier.
- Check patch status against Adobe APSB21-49 guidance.
- Review users and teams that routinely open external creative files.
- Verify endpoint protections monitor suspicious child processes from After Effects.
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-787: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-28602 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb21-49.htmlCVE 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 Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.