Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

CVE-2021-36002: Adobe Captivate Installer Creation of Temporary File In Directory With Incorrect Permissions Could Lead To Privilege Escalation

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 29/100)

  • 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: 0.51% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. 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.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 5.0, NVD 7.3.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

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 Captivate version 11.5.5 (and earlier) is affected by an Creation of Temporary File In Directory With Incorrect Permissions vulnerability that could result in privilege escalation in the context of the current user. The attacker must plant a malicious file in a particular location of the victim's machine. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must launch the Captivate Installer.

HighCVSS 7.3 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Sep 1, 2021
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.5% · 43th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

29

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
29 / 40 · 7.3 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.5%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.3
CNA · adobe
5.0
2.3 point gap

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

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-2021-36002

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

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

Your free account also gets you

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for adobe records

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

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.

We use this product, ask for help

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
adobecaptivate

Affected versions

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

  • adobe captivateup to 11.5.5 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 Captivate

    • unspecified and later · up to and including 11.5.5affected
    • unspecified and later · up to and including Noneaffected

Same product

adobe: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2017-3098Adobe Captivate versions 9 and earlier have a remote code execution vulnerability in the quiz reporting feature that could be abused to read
    41Plan
  • CVE-2010-3191Untrusted search path vulnerability in Adobe Captivate 5.0.0.596, and possibly other versions, allows local users, and possibly remote attac
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2017-3087Adobe Captivate versions 9 and earlier have an information disclosure vulnerability resulting from abuse of the quiz reporting feature in Ca
    31Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2005-4708Dec 31, 2005 · Adobe Macromedia MX 2004 products, Captivate, Contribute 2, Contribute 3, and eLicensing client install the Macromedia Licensing Service wit
    28Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-21011Jan 13, 2021 · Uncontrolled Search Path Element in Adobe Captivate 2019
    29Monitor

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).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • 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
Low
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:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

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