CVE-2023-29314 in InDesign
Summary
by MITRE • 07/12/2023
Adobe InDesign versions ID18.3 (and earlier) and ID17.4.1 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to bypass mitigations such as ASLR. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/12/2023
Adobe InDesign software versions ID18.3 and earlier as well as ID17.4.1 and earlier contain a critical out-of-bounds read vulnerability that presents significant security implications for affected systems. This vulnerability falls under the category of memory safety issues and can be classified as CWE-125 according to the Common Weakness Enumeration catalog. The flaw occurs when the application processes specially crafted input files that trigger memory access beyond allocated boundaries, potentially exposing sensitive data stored in adjacent memory locations. This type of vulnerability represents a fundamental breakdown in input validation and memory management practices within the software's parsing mechanisms.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires a specific attack vector involving user interaction where an attacker must convince a victim to open a maliciously crafted file. This requirement places the vulnerability in the category of user-initiated attacks rather than automated exploitation scenarios. However, the impact is severe as successful exploitation can lead to information disclosure that may reveal sensitive memory contents including stack canaries, heap metadata, or other security-relevant data. The disclosure of such information directly enables attackers to bypass critical security mitigations like Address Space Layout Randomization which relies on unpredictable memory layouts to prevent exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities. This capability significantly reduces the effectiveness of modern exploit mitigations and increases the likelihood of successful subsequent exploitation attempts.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a substantial risk for organizations using Adobe InDesign as part of their creative workflows. The requirement for user interaction means that social engineering campaigns could potentially leverage this vulnerability through phishing attacks or malicious file sharing scenarios. Security teams must consider the broader implications of this vulnerability within their incident response planning and risk assessment protocols. The vulnerability's potential to expose memory contents that could aid in developing more sophisticated attacks makes it particularly concerning for environments where sensitive data processing occurs. Organizations should evaluate their current security posture against this vulnerability and implement appropriate controls to protect against potential exploitation attempts.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves immediate application of Adobe's security patches and updates to bring affected systems to supported versions that contain fixes for this vulnerability. System administrators should prioritize deployment of these updates across all affected systems while implementing additional security controls such as email filtering and file validation mechanisms to reduce the likelihood of users encountering malicious files. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be enhanced to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification as a memory safety issue aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059 which covers command and scripting interpreter usage, though the specific exploitation path here involves file-based delivery rather than command execution. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies and user education programs to reduce the risk of successful exploitation through social engineering approaches.