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NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

CVE-2021-21100: Adobe Digital Editions Arbitrary file system write vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 32/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 77.5% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.11.187245 (and earlier) is affected by a Privilege Escalation vulnerability during installation. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve arbitrary file system write in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Apr 15, 2021
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
1.7% · 77th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

32

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 1.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · adobe
7.8
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2021-21100

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
adobedigital editions
applemacos

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • adobe digital editionsup to 4.5.11.187245 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (adobe). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Adobe Digital Editions

    • unspecified and later · up to and including 4.5.11.187245affected
    • unspecified and later · up to and including Noneaffected

Same product

adobe: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2016-0954Adobe Digital Editions before 4.5.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecif
    44Plan
  • CVE-2019-7095Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.10.185749 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2018-12814Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.8 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability.
    42Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-3760Feb 13, 2020 · Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.10 and below have a command injection vulnerability.
    41Plan
  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-3798Jun 26, 2020 · Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.11.187212 and below have a file enumeration (host or local network) vulnerability.
    27Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-39826Sep 27, 2021 · Adobe Digital Editions Command Execution Vulnerability
    35Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-379 · Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions

CVSS vector

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

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records