CVE-2026-21338VulnerabilityPublished 10 Feb 2026Updated 27 Aug 2026

CVE-2026-21338: Adobe Substance 3D Designer · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Adobe Substance 3D DesignerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 5% 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:N/I:N/A:H

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

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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Feb 2026
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 2026-10-26.

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
AdobeAdobe Substance 3D Designer	Affected <=15.1.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-21338, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Educate users, especially those in design and creative roles, about the risks of opening files from untrusted or unknown sources to prevent inadvertent exploitation. 2) Establish strict file handling policies, including scanning all incoming files with updated antivirus and endpoint detection tools capable of identifying malformed or suspicious Substance3D files. 3) Monitor Adobe’s security advisories closely and apply patches or updates immediately once available to remediate the vulnerability. 4) Use application whitelisting or sandboxing techniques to isolate Adobe Substance3D - Designer processes, limiting the impact of crashes and preventing potential escalation. 5) Maintain regular backups of critical project files and workflows to minimize disruption in case of application failure. 6) Consider deploying endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions that can detect abnormal application crashes or suspicious file openings. 7) Coordinate with IT and security teams to implement network segmentation for systems running Substance3D - Designer to reduce lateral impact if exploitation attempts occur. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on user behavior, file handling, and containment strategies specific to this vulnerability and the affected software environment.

Description

Substance3D - Designer versions 15.1.0 and earlier are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could lead to application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, causing disruption to services. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2026-21338 is operational disruption due to denial-of-service conditions in Adobe Substance3D - Designer. This can affect creative agencies, design studios, and other enterprises involved in digital content creation and 3D design workflows. The inability to use the application reliably may delay project delivery and increase downtime costs. Since the vulnerability requires user interaction, phishing or social engineering campaigns could be used to deliver malicious files, potentially targeting specific employees. While the vulnerability does not lead to data breaches or unauthorized access, the loss of availability can still have significant business impact, especially for organizations with tight deadlines or those providing client-facing services. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity score and absence of patches mean organizations should proactively manage exposure. Additionally, disruption in creative workflows could indirectly affect supply chains or marketing campaigns, amplifying the impact.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/substance3d_designer/apsb26-19.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Feb 2026, 18:48 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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