Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats, one vulnerability that has recently caught the attention of cybersecurity professionals worldwide is CVE-2025-54211. This flaw is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability that affects InDesign Desktop versions 20.4, 19.5.4 and earlier. If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. This means that an attacker could potentially gain control over an affected system, posing a significant threat to data confidentiality and integrity.
This vulnerability is particularly alarming because it requires user interaction, meaning that an attacker could exploit this flaw if a victim opens a malicious file. Therefore, it is crucial for both individual users and organizations using the affected versions of InDesign Desktop to understand this vulnerability and take the necessary steps to mitigate it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54211
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
InDesign Desktop | 20.4 and earlier
InDesign Desktop | 19.5.4 and earlier
How the Exploit Works
The heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CVE-2025-54211) occurs when the application fails to properly handle the input data size when processing certain files. This can cause the application’s buffer, a temporary data storage area, to overflow, enabling an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the user running the application.
In order to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to trick a user into opening a maliciously crafted file using an affected version of InDesign Desktop. This could be achieved through various means such as social engineering or phishing emails. Once the malicious file is opened, the buffer overflow would occur, allowing the attacker to execute code and potentially gain control over the system.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of a malformed file that could be used to exploit this vulnerability. The malicious payload would be embedded within the file.
$ cat > exploit.idml << EOF
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<idPkg:Source xmlns:idPkg="http://ns.adobe.com/AdobeInDesign/idml/1.0" DOMVersion="14.0">
<Story>
<Content>Malicious_payload</Content>
</Story>
EOFIn this example, the ‘Malicious_payload’ would be crafted to cause a buffer overflow when the file is opened in an affected version of InDesign Desktop.
