# CVE-2021-39828: Adobe Digital Editions Installer flaw leads to Local Privilege Escalation

> An authenticated attacker can escalate privileges via a flaw in the Adobe Digital Editions installer, requiring user interaction during installation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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 available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Sep 2021
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q89f-4fm5-5x46

## What is CVE-2021-39828?

CVE-2021-39828 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Adobe Digital Editions, published on 27 Sep 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 Digital Editions 4.5.11.187646 (and earlier) are affected by a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Digital Editions installer. An authenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges. User interaction is required before product installation to abuse this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-379 (Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-39828?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Adobe Digital Editions.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-39828?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-39828 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-39828 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-39828 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe Digital Editions

- [CVE-2017-3088](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3088/): Memory corruption in Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.4 and earlier. (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-0494](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0494/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2013-1377](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1377/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-3760](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3760/): Command injection in Adobe Digital Editions (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-7095](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-7095/): Memory corruption in Adobe Digital Editions (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-39828 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-39828 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Adobe Digital Editions, published on 27 Sep 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-39828 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe Digital Editions. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39828/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39828/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-39828
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-39828
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-39828

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39828/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.