CVE-2025-49568VulnerabilityPublished 12 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-49568: Adobe Illustrator · Use After Free

Affects Adobe IllustratorSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 17% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Adobe Illustrator	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Implement strict email and file filtering policies to detect and block suspicious or unsolicited Illustrator files, especially from unknown sources. 2. Educate users about the risks of opening files from untrusted origins and train them to recognize phishing attempts that may deliver malicious Illustrator files. 3. Monitor and restrict the use of Illustrator files received from external parties, employing sandboxing or detonation chambers to analyze files before allowing them into the network. 4. Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of detecting anomalous memory access patterns or suspicious Illustrator process behaviors indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Maintain up-to-date backups of critical design files and data to mitigate potential secondary impacts from exploitation attempts. 6. Once Adobe releases official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability, prioritize their deployment across all affected systems. 7. Consider application whitelisting or restricting Illustrator usage to trusted users and systems to reduce exposure. 8. Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing focusing on client-side applications like Illustrator to identify and remediate similar risks proactively.

Description

Illustrator versions 28.7.8, 29.6.1 and earlier are affected by a Use After Free vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-49568 could be significant, particularly for industries relying heavily on Adobe Illustrator for design and creative workflows, such as advertising agencies, media companies, publishing houses, and manufacturing firms with design departments. The disclosure of sensitive memory contents could lead to leakage of intellectual property, confidential client data, or internal project details. Since exploitation requires user interaction, phishing or social engineering campaigns distributing malicious Illustrator files could be a vector. The medium severity score suggests that while the vulnerability is not trivially exploitable remotely, the risk remains substantial in environments where Illustrator files are exchanged frequently without strict validation. Additionally, the confidentiality impact could have regulatory implications under GDPR if personal or sensitive data is exposed. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not preclude future exploitation, especially as threat actors often weaponize such vulnerabilities after public disclosure. Organizations with remote or hybrid workforces using Illustrator on laptops or desktops may be particularly vulnerable if endpoint protections and user awareness are insufficient.

CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/illustrator/apsb25-74.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Aug 2025, 17:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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