Adobe products arbitrary code execution and XSS flaws
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Multiple critical vulnerabilities across Adobe products enable arbitrary code execution and XSS; no active exploitation reported yet.
Adobe has disclosed multiple vulnerabilities affecting its Creative Cloud, document handling, e-commerce, and content management products. The most severe affect Substance 3D Painter, InCopy, InDesign, and Acrobat Reader, where out-of-bounds writes, buffer overflows, and use-after-free conditions could allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the logged-on user. Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) and Adobe Commerce are affected by extensive cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (both stored and reflected XSS) alongside authorization and access control flaws. The advisory covers patches across InCopy, InDesign, Substance 3D Painter, Substance 3D Sampler, Acrobat Reader, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe Commerce/Magento platforms. The advisory states there are currently no reports of these vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild. Successful exploitation of the most severe flaws could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, install programs, modify or delete data, or create new accounts depending on user privileges.
Mentioned in this report
Detection guidance
Adobe Acrobat/Reader Spawning Shell or Script Interpreter
Acrobat or Reader spawning a command shell, script host or LOLBin, which is typical post-exploitation behaviour after a memory-corruption exploit in a malicious PDF. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: Adobe Acrobat/Reader Spawning Shell or Script Interpreter
description: Detects Acrobat or Acrobat Reader spawning a command shell, script host
or common LOLBin. Rare in normal use and a typical result of successful client-side
exploitation (out-of-bounds write, use-after-free) of a malicious PDF.
tags:
- attack.execution
- attack.t1203
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection_parent:
ParentImage|endswith:
- \AcroRd32.exe
- \Acrobat.exe
selection_child:
Image|endswith:
- \cmd.exe
- \powershell.exe
- \pwsh.exe
- \wscript.exe
- \cscript.exe
- \mshta.exe
- \regsvr32.exe
- \certutil.exe
- \bitsadmin.exe
condition: selection_parent and selection_child
falsepositives:
- Acrobat JavaScript or enterprise workflow plugins that launch cmd.exe for document
processing
- Legacy PDF-to-print integrations invoking scripts from Reader
level: high
id: 854dc411-ecd4-5ea3-ac56-9c2f2c92ea88
status: experimental
author: Vorant
references:
- https://www.cisecurity.org/advisory/multiple-vulnerabilities-in-adobe-products-could-allow-for-arbitrary-code-execution_2025-057
Adobe Creative Application Spawning Shell or Script Interpreter
InDesign, InCopy or Substance 3D applications spawning a command shell or script host, indicating possible exploitation of a malicious document or asset file. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: Adobe Creative Application Spawning Shell or Script Interpreter
description: Detects InDesign, InCopy or Substance 3D applications spawning a command
shell, script host or common LOLBin. This may indicate arbitrary code execution
through a malicious project or asset file that triggers a memory-corruption flaw.
tags:
- attack.execution
- attack.t1203
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection_parent:
ParentImage|endswith:
- \InDesign.exe
- \InCopy.exe
- \Adobe Substance 3D Painter.exe
- \Adobe Substance 3D Sampler.exe
selection_child:
Image|endswith:
- \cmd.exe
- \powershell.exe
- \pwsh.exe
- \wscript.exe
- \cscript.exe
- \mshta.exe
- \regsvr32.exe
- \certutil.exe
- \bitsadmin.exe
condition: selection_parent and selection_child
falsepositives:
- Studio pipeline scripts or plugins launching cmd.exe or PowerShell from InDesign,
or from Substance Painter exports
- InDesign ExtendScript or VBScript automation that invokes script hosts
level: medium
id: 6f2a0ff2-5be0-5e15-82d1-27154e361086
status: experimental
author: Vorant
references:
- https://www.cisecurity.org/advisory/multiple-vulnerabilities-in-adobe-products-could-allow-for-arbitrary-code-execution_2025-057
Behavioural rules are generated from public reporting — validate in your environment before deploying.
Source reporting: https://www.cisecurity.org/advisory/multiple-vulnerabilities-in-adobe-products-could-allow-for-arbitrary-code-execution_2025-057
What this brief leaves out
This page is the free tier: the write-up, the severity, the names. In the app the same report carries its extracted indicators, its detections (Splunk SPL already written, plus Elastic and Microsoft KQL where they apply), the actors and CVEs it names as live profiles, and the vendor research on the same campaign — the primary source the news paraphrased, cited and read directly.
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