Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-40758 affects Adobe After Effects 18.4.1 and earlier. A malicious WAV file can trigger memory corruption and may let code run as the logged-in user. The attacker needs the victim to open the crafted file, so exposure is mainly in teams handling external media assets.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation where After Effects is used with externally supplied media. The business risk is workstation compromise through normal creative workflows, with potential data and operational impact under the user’s permissions.
Technical view
The vulnerability is a local, user-interaction-required memory corruption issue in After Effects WAV file parsing, mapped to CWE-788. CVSS 3.1 is 7.8 with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. Successful exploitation could execute arbitrary code in the current user context.
Likely exposure
Organizations using Adobe After Effects 18.4.1 or earlier are potentially exposed, especially creative, marketing, production, or contractor workflows that ingest WAV files from outside parties. The bundle does not identify other affected Adobe products.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires a user to open a specially crafted WAV file in an affected After Effects version. Treat this as phishing-adjacent file handling risk, not a remotely exploitable network service issue.
Researcher notes
Core facts are source-grounded: affected product, version threshold, WAV parsing, memory corruption, user interaction, and arbitrary code execution. The supplied bundle does not include exploit evidence, fixed version details, or detailed mitigations beyond the Adobe advisory reference.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Adobe After Effects installations and identify versions 18.4.1 or earlier.
- Review Adobe APSB21-79 and apply the vendor-recommended update or guidance.
- Avoid opening untrusted WAV files in affected After Effects versions.
- Route external media through established intake and malware scanning workflows.
- Prioritize remediation for users who regularly handle third-party audio assets.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any endpoints run Adobe After Effects 18.4.1 or earlier.
- Verify patched status against Adobe APSB21-79 rather than assuming automatic updates succeeded.
- Check whether production workflows accept WAV files from external or unknown sources.
- Review endpoint telemetry for suspicious activity involving After Effects after opening media files.
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-2021-40758 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/apsb21-79.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.