Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-28603 is a high-severity Adobe After Effects flaw. A malicious file could cause After Effects to run attacker-controlled code when a user opens it. The main business risk is compromise of creative workstations, especially teams that receive project files from clients, partners, or public sources.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority where After Effects is used. It is not a broad internet-facing emergency, but creative teams handling outside files have credible workstation compromise risk.
Technical view
The vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow, CWE-122, in Adobe After Effects 18.2 and earlier while parsing a specially crafted file. CVSS is 7.8. Attack requires local user interaction and no privileges, with potential confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact in the current user context.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on endpoints running Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier, especially media, marketing, design, and production workstations that open externally supplied files.
Exploitation context
The bundle says exploitation requires a victim to open a malicious file. It does not provide evidence of active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as CISA KEV.
Researcher notes
Core facts are well supported, but the supplied bundle does not include fixed-version details, exploit samples, or CPEs. Validate exposure by installed version and use Adobe APSB21-49 for remediation specifics.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory endpoints for Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier.
- Review Adobe APSB21-49 for the vendor-designated fixed update.
- Prioritize remediation for users handling third-party After Effects files.
- Restrict opening untrusted project files until remediation is complete.
- Remove or isolate vulnerable installations that cannot be updated.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed After Effects versions against Adobe APSB21-49.
- Check software inventory for remaining 18.2 or earlier installs.
- Verify high-risk creative workstations received the vendor update.
- Review endpoint alerts around suspicious file-open activity.
- Document any systems requiring exception or compensating controls.
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-122: 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-2021-28603 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 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/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:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.0/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.
Heap-based Buffer Overflow
Heap-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.