Analyst readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-28606 affects Adobe After Effects 18.2 and earlier. A malicious file can trigger a stack buffer overflow and run code as the user who opens it. The main business risk is compromise of creative workstations through targeted file delivery, not remote attack without user interaction.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority workstation risk for teams using After Effects, especially creative, marketing, production, and contractor-facing groups. It requires user action, but successful exploitation could give an attacker code execution under the user's account.
Technical view
The vulnerability is a CWE-121 stack-based buffer overflow in Adobe After Effects file parsing. CVSS 3.0 is 7.8 with local attack vector, no privileges required, and required user interaction. Successful exploitation can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability in the current user's context.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on workstations running Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier, especially users who receive external project files or creative assets. Server-side exposure is not indicated by the sources.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires a victim to open a specially crafted file, making phishing, contractor file exchange, or shared asset workflows plausible delivery paths.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports affected Adobe After Effects 18.2 and earlier, stack overflow, arbitrary code execution, and user interaction requirement. Patch specifics are not present in the provided bundle, so remediation should be tied to Adobe APSB21-49 rather than inferred.
Mitigation direction
- Identify systems running Adobe After Effects 18.2 or earlier.
- Review Adobe APSB21-49 for the official update or mitigation guidance.
- Prioritize patching creative workstations that handle external files.
- Warn users not to open unexpected After Effects files.
- Apply endpoint controls for suspicious child processes from After Effects.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed After Effects versions on managed endpoints.
- Confirm whether Adobe APSB21-49 guidance has been applied.
- Check EDR for unusual process activity spawned by After Effects.
- Review recent incidents involving unexpected creative project files.
- Validate controls for quarantining externally sourced files.
Public sources used
Based on public source material and reviewed before publication.
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-121: 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-2021-28606 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.
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Stack-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.