CVE-2025-47122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in Adobe Framemaker

Overview

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has recently reported a severe vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-47122. This vulnerability affects Adobe Framemaker versions 2020.8, 2022.6 and earlier, potentially exposing a wide range of systems to threats. The vulnerability is due to a heap-based buffer overflow, which, if successfully exploited, could result in arbitrary code execution by an attacker. This blog post will delve deeper into the technical aspects of this vulnerability, including its impact, mitigation guidance, and how it can be exploited.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-47122
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Adobe Framemaker | 2020.8
Adobe Framemaker | 2022.6 and earlier

How the Exploit Works

The heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Framemaker stems from improper memory management during the handling of certain files. If a user is tricked into opening a specially crafted malicious file, an attacker can trigger a buffer overflow. This overflow can corrupt adjacent blocks of memory, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code within the context of the user running the application. This can potentially lead to full system compromise.

Conceptual Example Code

To illustrate how an exploit might look in practice, consider the following conceptual example. This pseudocode represents a simplistic version of the overflow-triggering payload:

buffer = "A" * 5000  # Create a buffer with 5000 'A' characters
file = open("malicious.framemakerfile", "w")  # Open a new Framemaker file
file.write(buffer)  # Write the buffer to the file
file.close()  # Close the file

In this example, a malicious file is created with a size greater than what the application can handle, causing the buffer overflow when the file is opened in Adobe Framemaker.

Mitigation Guidance

To mitigate this vulnerability, Adobe has released a patch which should be applied immediately. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary mitigation measure. These systems can potentially detect and block attempts to exploit the vulnerability. However, these should not be seen as long-term solutions, and patching the software should be a priority to ensure system safety.