Adobe security alert.

May 11, 2021

Advisory overview

Qualys Vulnerability R&D Lab has released new vulnerability checks in the Enterprise TruRisk Platform to protect organizations against 31 vulnerabilities that were fixed in 5 bulletins announced today by Adobe. Customers can immediately audit their networks for these and other new vulnerabilities by accessing their Qualys subscription. Visit Qualys Security Blog to prioritize remediation.

Non-Qualys customers can audit their network for these and other vulnerabilities by signing up for a Qualys Free Trial, or by trying Qualys Community Edition.

Vulnerability details

Adobe has released 5 security bulletins to fix newly discovered flaws in their software. Qualys has released the following checks for these new vulnerabilities:

  • Adobe Security Update for Adobe Acrobat and Reader (APSB21-29)

    Severity
    Critical 4
    Qualys ID
    375547
    Vendor Reference
    APSB21-29
    CVE Reference
    CVE-2021-21038, CVE-2021-21044, CVE-2021-21086, CVE-2021-28550, CVE-2021-28553, CVE-2021-28555, CVE-2021-28557, CVE-2021-28558, CVE-2021-28559, CVE-2021-28560, CVE-2021-28561, CVE-2021-28562, CVE-2021-28564, CVE-2021-28565
    CVSS Scores
    Base 9.3 / Temporal 8.1
    Description
    Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software and Web services developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print, and manage files in Portable Document Format. The family comprises Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, and Acrobat.com.

    Adobe has released security updates to address the fix for Out-of-Bounds Read,Out-of-Bounds Write,Type Confusion,User After Free and Heap Overflow Vulnerabilities.

    Affected Versions:
    Acrobat DC Continuous 2021.001.20150 and earlier versions (Windows)
    Acrobat DC Continuous 2021.001.20149 and earlier versions(macOS)
    Acrobat Reader DC Continuous 2021.001.20150 and earlier versions (Windows )
    Acrobat Reader DC Continuous 2021.001.20149 and earlier versions (macOS)
    Acrobat 2020 Classic 2020, 2020.001.30020 and earlier versions (Windows and macOS)
    Acrobat Reader 2020 Classic 2020, 2020.001.30020 and earlier versions (Windows and macOS)
    Acrobat 2017 Classic 2017, 2017.011.30194 and earlier version (Windows and macOS)
    Acrobat Reader 2017 Classic 2017, 2017.011.30194 and earlier version (Windows and macOS)
    QID Detection Logic (Authenticated):
    Operating System: Windows
    This QID looks for the vulnerable version of Acrobat.dll, AcroRd32.dll and nppdf32.dll files.

    QID Detection Logic (Authenticated):
    Operating System: MacOS
    This QID looks for the vulnerable version of Adobe Reader and Acrobat from the installed application list.

    Consequence
    Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
    Solution
    The vendor has released patches in APSB21-29

    Patches:
    The following are links for downloading patches to fix these vulnerabilities:
    apsb21-29 Windows,MAC

  • Adobe InDesign Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability (APSB21-22)

    Severity
    Serious 3
    Qualys ID
    375549
    Vendor Reference
    APSB21-22
    CVE Reference
    CVE-2021-21043, CVE-2021-21098, CVE-2021-21099, CVE-2021-36004
    CVSS Scores
    Base 9.3 / Temporal 6.9
    Description
    Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing software application.

    Affected Versions:
    Adobe InDesign 16.0 and earlier versions

    QID Detection Logic (Authenticated):
    This checks for vulnerable versions of InDesign.

    Consequence
    Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

    Solution
    The vendor has released updates to fix the vulnerabilities. Please refer to Adobe advisory APSB21-22 for details.

    Patches:
    The following are links for downloading patches to fix these vulnerabilities:
    APSB21-22

  • Adobe Media Encoder Privilege escalation Vulnerability (APSB21-32)

    Severity
    Serious 3
    Qualys ID
    375550
    Vendor Reference
    APSB21-32
    CVE Reference
    CVE-2021-28569
    CVSS Scores
    Base 4.3 / Temporal 3.2
    Description
    Adobe has released an update for Adobe Media Encoder. This update resolves an important out-of-bound read vulnerability that could lead to privilege escalation in the context of the current user.

    Affected Versions:
    Adobe Media Encoder 15.1 and earlier versions (Windows)

    QID Detection Logic:
    This QID checks for vulnerable version of Adobe Media Encoder.

    Consequence
    Successful exploitation could lead to Privilege Escalation.
    Solution

    Adobe has released fix in version 15.2 to address this issue. Customers are advised to refer to APSB21-32 for updates pertaining to this vulnerability.

    Patches:
    The following are links for downloading patches to fix these vulnerabilities:
    APSB21-32

  • Adobe Security Update for Adobe Illustrator (APSB21-24)

    Severity
    Critical 4
    Qualys ID
    375551
    Vendor Reference
    APSB21-24
    CVE Reference
    CVE-2021-21101, CVE-2021-21102, CVE-2021-21103, CVE-2021-21104, CVE-2021-21105
    CVSS Scores
    Base 9.3 / Temporal 6.9
    Description
    Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems.

    This update fixes security bugs in Adobe Illustrator.

    Affected Versions:
    Adobe Illustrator 25.2 and prior

    QID Detection Logic:
    This QID checks vulnerable version of Adobe Illustrator.

    Consequence
    Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of current user.

    Solution

    Adobe has released fix to address this issue. Customers are advised to refer to APSB21-24 for updates pertaining to this vulnerability.

    Patches:
    The following are links for downloading patches to fix these vulnerabilities:
    ASPB21-24

  • Adobe Animate arbitrary code execution vulnerability (APSB21-35)

    Severity
    Serious 3
    Qualys ID
    375553
    Vendor Reference
    APSB21-35
    CVE Reference
    CVE-2021-28572, CVE-2021-28573, CVE-2021-28574, CVE-2021-28575, CVE-2021-28576, CVE-2021-28577, CVE-2021-28578
    CVSS Scores
    Base 4.3 / Temporal 3.2
    Description
    Adobe has released an update for Adobe Animate that resolves arbitrary code execution. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

    Affected versions:
    Adobe Animate 21.0.5 and earlier versions. QID detection logic:
    Qid checks for file Animate.exe in Windows HKLM.

    Consequence
    On successful exploitation an attacker could exploit arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
    Solution
    Vendor Adove has realesed the patch to fix this vulnerability. Refer to APSB21-35

    Patches:
    The following are links for downloading patches to fix these vulnerabilities:
    APSB21-35

These new vulnerability checks are included in Qualys vulnerability signature 2.5.182-3. Each Qualys account is automatically updated with the latest vulnerability signatures as they become available. To view the vulnerability signature version in your account, from the Qualys Help menu, select the About tab.

Selective Scan Instructions Using Qualys

To perform a selective vulnerability scan, configure a scan profile to use the following options:

  1. Ensure access to TCP ports 135 and 139 are available.
  2. Enable Windows Authentication (specify Authentication Records).
  3. Enable the following Qualys IDs:
    • 375547
    • 375549
    • 375550
    • 375551
    • 375553
  4. If you would like the scan to return the Windows Hostname, also include QID 82044 and ensure access to UDP port 137 is available.
  5. If you would like to be notified if Qualys is unable to log on to a host (if Authentication fails), also include QID 105015.

In addition, prior to running a scan for these new vulnerabilities, you can estimate your exposure to these new threats by running the Risk Analysis Report, available from the Qualys Vulnerability Management Reports tab.

Access for Qualys Customers

Platforms and Platform Identification

Technical Support

For more information, customers may contact Qualys Technical Support.

About Qualys

The Enterprise TruRisk Platform and its integrated suite of security and compliance applications provides organizations of all sizes with a global view of their security and compliance solutions, while drastically reducing their total cost of ownership. Qualys solutions include: continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, policy compliance, PCI compliance, security assessment questionnaire, web application scanning, web application firewall, malware detection and SECURE Seal for security testing of web sites.