Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw affects Adobe After Effects 18.2 and earlier. A malicious file could trigger memory corruption and let code run as the logged-in user. The main business risk is compromise of creative workstations when staff open untrusted project or media files.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority workstation risk for creative teams. It needs user interaction, but the impact can be full code execution under the current user, making phishing or malicious file-sharing scenarios the main concern.
Technical view
CVE-2021-28605 is a CWE-787 out-of-bounds write memory corruption issue in After Effects file parsing. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.8 with local attack vector, no privileges required, and required user interaction. Successful exploitation can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to systems running Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier, especially users who receive external creative files. The provided sources do not identify other Adobe products or platforms as affected.
Exploitation context
The sources state exploitation requires a victim to open a specially crafted malicious file. The CVE is not marked as CISA KEV in the supplied bundle, and no cited source in the bundle confirms active exploitation.
Researcher notes
The supplied evidence supports the affected product, attack precondition, CWE, and CVSS impact. It does not provide exploit telemetry, fixed build numbers, or detailed parsing format information, so validation should stay focused on version exposure and Adobe bulletin alignment.
Mitigation direction
- Check Adobe APSB21-49 for vendor-fixed versions and update guidance.
- Prioritize updating After Effects 18.2 and earlier installations.
- Limit opening After Effects files from untrusted external sources.
- Use endpoint controls to reduce impact from user-level code execution.
- Review vendor guidance before applying compensating controls.
Validation and detection
- Inventory endpoints for Adobe After Effects installations and versions.
- Flag any After Effects version 18.2 or earlier.
- Confirm remediation status against Adobe APSB21-49.
- Identify users who regularly open external creative files.
- Review endpoint detections for suspicious activity around 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-2021-28605 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.