Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Adobe After Effects 18.2.1 and earlier can be compromised if a user opens a malicious file. Successful exploitation could let an attacker run code with that user’s privileges, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability on creative workstations.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority workstation risk where After Effects is deployed. The business urgency is highest for teams exchanging creative files with external parties.
Technical view
CVE-2021-35996 is a CWE-788 memory corruption issue in After Effects file parsing. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.8 with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, and required user interaction.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to systems with Adobe After Effects 18.2.1 or earlier installed, especially users who open externally supplied project or media files.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires convincing a victim to open a specially crafted file, so phishing or file-sharing workflows are the likely delivery paths.
Researcher notes
The source evidence supports arbitrary code execution in the current user context through file parsing. Scope is unchanged, impact is high across confidentiality, integrity, and availability, but user interaction is required. No exploit details are provided here.
Mitigation direction
- Review Adobe APSB21-54 and apply the vendor-recommended After Effects update.
- Inventory endpoints for After Effects 18.2.1 or earlier.
- Limit opening After Effects files from untrusted senders or file shares.
- Prioritize creative workstations and users handling external media files.
- Use endpoint controls to quarantine suspicious attachments and downloaded project files.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed After Effects versions across managed endpoints.
- Verify upgraded systems no longer report version 18.2.1 or earlier.
- Check software inventory for unmanaged creative workstations.
- Review mail and file-transfer controls for risky After Effects file delivery.
- Confirm EDR coverage on systems used for media production.
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-788: 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-2021-35996 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/apsb21-54.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.
Access of Memory Location After End of Buffer
Access of Memory Location After End of Buffer represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.