Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A malicious file opened in Adobe After Effects can trigger a memory-safety flaw and run attacker-controlled code with the victim’s account permissions. The user must open the file, but successful exploitation could compromise data, alter files, or disrupt the workstation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority workstation vulnerability. Promptly identify affected creative systems and follow Adobe’s remediation guidance, focusing first on users handling externally supplied files. It is serious but requires user interaction and is not identified as KEV in the supplied evidence.
Technical view
CVE-2026-21351 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in Adobe After Effects. It can enable arbitrary code execution as the current user. CVSS 3.1 rates it 7.8: local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, unchanged scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
Likely exposure
Exposure primarily concerns workstations running affected After Effects releases, especially where users open files from external or untrusted sources. The description identifies versions 25.6 and earlier, but the structured version data is ambiguous; confirm exact affected and corrected releases through Adobe’s advisory.
Exploitation context
Exploitation requires convincing a victim to open a malicious file in After Effects. The supplied record is not flagged in KEV and provides no evidence of active exploitation. That does not establish that exploitation is impossible or absent elsewhere.
Researcher notes
The source bundle contains inconsistent version presentation: the narrative says 25.6 and earlier, while structured entries list 0, 25.6.4, and 26.0 with a default unaffected status. Do not infer boundaries from those entries alone. No patch version, indicators, technical root-cause detail, or exploitation evidence is included.
Mitigation direction
- Consult Adobe APSB26-15 for the corrected release and apply the vendor-recommended update.
- Prioritize workstations whose users routinely receive After Effects files from external parties.
- Restrict or scrutinize untrusted project and media files until affected installations are remediated.
- Use existing endpoint controls to limit damage from code executing under a user account.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed After Effects versions across managed endpoints.
- Compare detected versions with the exact affected and corrected releases in Adobe APSB26-15.
- Confirm updates completed successfully and outdated installations are no longer present.
- Review relevant endpoint and file-delivery telemetry; no vulnerability-specific indicators are supplied.
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-416: 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-2026-21351 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.
SSVC decision data
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:H1.85.9adobeVulnerability 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
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb26-15.htmlCVE reference, adobe · vendor-advisory
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.
Use After Free
Use After Free represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.