CVE-2025-54271VulnerabilityPublished 15 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-54271: Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop · Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

Affects Adobe Creative Cloud DesktopSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.6 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.6Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 3% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 15 Oct 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 Creative Cloud Desktop	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor Adobe's official channels for patches addressing CVE-2025-54271 and apply updates promptly once available. 2. Restrict local access to systems running Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop, enforcing strict user permissions and limiting administrative rights to reduce the risk of exploitation. 3. Implement application whitelisting and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect anomalous file system activities indicative of exploitation attempts. 4. Enforce strict file system permissions on directories used by Creative Cloud Desktop to minimize the ability of low-privileged users to modify critical files. 5. Conduct regular audits of file integrity for key project directories to detect unauthorized changes early. 6. Educate users about the importance of securing their workstations and avoiding the execution of untrusted code or scripts that could facilitate local exploitation. 7. Consider network segmentation and endpoint isolation for high-value creative workstations to limit lateral movement in case of compromise.

Description

Creative Cloud Desktop versions 6.7.0.278 and earlier are affected by a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary file system write. A low-privileged attacker could exploit the timing between the check and use of a resource, potentially allowing unauthorized modifications to files. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the integrity of files managed by Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop. Unauthorized file modifications could disrupt creative workflows, corrupt project files, or introduce malicious code into shared assets, potentially leading to broader security incidents or operational disruptions. Organizations relying heavily on Adobe Creative Cloud for content creation, design, or digital media production may experience workflow interruptions or data integrity issues. Since exploitation requires local access and high attack complexity, the threat is more significant in environments where endpoint security is weak or where attackers can gain physical or remote desktop access to user machines. The lack of confidentiality or availability impact limits the scope of damage, but integrity violations in creative assets can have reputational and financial consequences. Additionally, the vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a multi-stage attack chain to escalate privileges or deploy further malware.

CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.
Implementation
The most basic advice for TOCTOU vulnerabilities is to not perform a check before the use. This does not resolve the underlying issue of the execution of a function on a resource whose state and identity cannot be assured, but it does help to limit the false sense of security given by the check.
Implementation
When the file being altered is owned by the current user and group, set the effective gid and uid to that of the current user and group when executing this statement.
Architecture and Design
Limit the interleaving of operations on files from multiple processes.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.11.3 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.6 (opens in a new tab)
V1.11.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links (opens in a new tab)
Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/creative-cloud/apsb25-95.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Oct 2025, 16:39 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-367

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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