CVE-2021-21068 Adobe Creative Cloud installer arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability

Medium 6.1 Published 12 Mar 2021 Updated 23 Apr 2025

An attacker with physical access can overwrite arbitrary files in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: An administrator
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: A user has to click or open something
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2021-21068?

CVE-2021-21068 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Adobe Creative Cloud (desktop component), published on 12 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application version 5.3 (and earlier) is affected by a file handling vulnerability that could allow an attacker to cause arbitrary file overwriting. Exploitation of this issue requires physical access and user interaction.

Weakness: CWE-379

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21068?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application.

How do I fix CVE-2021-21068?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21068 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2021-21068 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21068 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-jxwm-wcqc-fgcc.