CVE-2025-27197: Out-Of-Bounds Write Vulnerability in Lightroom Desktop

Overview

The scope of this blog post revolves around a concerning vulnerability, CVE-2025-27197, that has been detected in Adobe’s Lightroom Desktop versions 8.2 and earlier. This vulnerability, classified as an out-of-bounds write vulnerability, is particularly concerning due to its potential for arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. To exploit this vulnerability, user interaction is required, specifically, the user must open a malicious file. The severity of this vulnerability underscores the necessity for immediate action to prevent potential system compromise or data leakage.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-27197
Severity: High (CVSS:7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Arbitrary code execution, potential system compromise, or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Lightroom Desktop | versions 8.2 and earlier

How the Exploit Works

The exploit takes advantage of an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Lightroom Desktop. This type of vulnerability occurs when the software writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. This can corrupt data, crash the program, or lead to the execution of malicious code.
In the case of CVE-2025-27197, the exploitation process requires user interaction. An attacker would need to trick the user into opening a malicious file using Lightroom Desktop. Once the malicious file is opened, it triggers the out-of-bounds write, which then allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.

Conceptual Example Code

While we won’t provide exact exploit code for obvious reasons, the following pseudocode provides a conceptual overview of how the vulnerability might be exploited.

# Pseudocode for CVE-2025-27197 exploit
# Create malicious file with payload that triggers out-of-bounds write
malicious_file = create_file_with_payload(payload)
# Trick user into opening malicious file with Lightroom Desktop
# Once the file is opened, the payload triggers the out-of-bounds write,
# leading to arbitrary code execution
open_file_with_lightroom(malicious_file)

To protect your systems against this vulnerability, it’s critical to apply the vendor-supplied patch. If the patch cannot be immediately applied, consider implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation strategy.