Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A malicious file opened in Adobe After Effects 18.2.1 or earlier could expose small amounts of sensitive memory from the user’s session. The attacker cannot trigger it remotely without user interaction, and the CVSS impact is limited to confidentiality.
Executive priority
Treat this as a low-priority workstation hygiene issue unless After Effects is widely deployed in teams handling untrusted client files. Patch through normal endpoint maintenance rather than emergency response.
Technical view
CVE-2021-36018 is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in Adobe After Effects file parsing. The CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N, meaning exploitation is local, unauthenticated, requires a victim to open a crafted file, and affects confidentiality only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is mainly workstations with Adobe After Effects 18.2.1 or earlier, especially users who receive and open files from external collaborators, clients, shared drives, or email attachments.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires convincing a user to open a malicious file in After Effects, limiting scale but keeping phishing and file-sharing scenarios relevant.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports a low-severity memory disclosure only. No cited source names active exploitation, a public exploit, or detailed exploit mechanics. The affected range is stated as Adobe After Effects 18.2.1 and earlier; check Adobe’s bulletin for exact remediation details.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Adobe After Effects installations and identify versions 18.2.1 or earlier.
- Apply Adobe guidance from APSB21-54 and update affected installations accordingly.
- Limit opening untrusted files in After Effects, especially from external senders.
- Use endpoint and mail controls to quarantine suspicious creative workflow files where feasible.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed After Effects versions across managed endpoints.
- Verify affected systems have received the Adobe APSB21-54 remediation.
- Check whether creative users routinely open externally supplied After Effects files.
- Document remaining exceptions and compensating controls for unpatched systems.
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-125: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-36018 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
- Low
- CVSS
- 3.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
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:L/I:N/A:N1.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
3.3LowVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
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.
Out-of-bounds Read
Out-of-bounds Read represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.