CVE-2025-49524 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Adobe Illustrator versions 28.7.6, 29.5.1, and earlier. The vulnerability is a NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) that can be triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malicious file. This flaw causes the application to dereference a NULL pointer, leading to an application crash and resulting in a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability does not impact confidentiality or integrity but affects availability by disrupting normal application operation. Exploitation requires user interaction, specifically opening a malicious Illustrator file, and does not require any privileges or authentication. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.5, reflecting a medium severity with an attack vector of local (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), and user interaction required (UI:R). There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability is primarily a stability and availability concern, potentially impacting workflows that rely on Adobe Illustrator for graphic design and production tasks.

For European organizations, this vulnerability could disrupt creative and marketing departments that heavily rely on Adobe Illustrator for design work. A successful exploit would cause the application to crash, leading to productivity loss and potential delays in project delivery. While it does not lead to data breaches or unauthorized access, repeated crashes could cause operational inefficiencies and increased support costs. Organizations in sectors such as advertising, media, publishing, and any business with in-house design teams are particularly at risk. Additionally, if Illustrator is integrated into automated design pipelines or used in environments where availability is critical, the DoS could have broader operational impacts. Since exploitation requires user interaction, the risk can be mitigated by user awareness and cautious handling of files from untrusted sources. However, the medium severity and lack of current exploits suggest the threat is moderate but should not be ignored.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict the opening of Illustrator files from untrusted or unknown sources, especially email attachments or downloads from the internet. 2) Educate users in design and creative teams about the risks of opening suspicious files and encourage verification of file origins. 3) Monitor and control the use of Illustrator through application whitelisting and endpoint protection solutions that can detect abnormal application crashes or behaviors. 4) Maintain regular backups of critical design files and project data to minimize impact from unexpected application crashes. 5) Stay alert for Adobe's official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available. 6) Consider sandboxing Illustrator or running it in isolated environments when handling files from external collaborators to contain potential crashes. 7) Implement logging and monitoring to detect frequent crashes that may indicate exploitation attempts. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on user behavior, file source validation, and operational continuity specific to Adobe Illustrator usage.