CVE-2021-40788 Adobe Premiere Elements Null Pointer Dereference Application denial-of-service

Medium 5.5 Published 16 Mar 2022 Updated 23 Apr 2025

An attacker can cause a denial of service in Adobe Premiere Elements by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted file.

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

What is CVE-2021-40788?

CVE-2021-40788 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Adobe Premiere Elements, published on 16 Mar 2022. 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 Premiere Elements 20210809.daily.2242976 (and earlier) is affected by a Null pointer dereference vulnerability when parsing a specially crafted file. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to achieve an application denial-of-service in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-40788?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Adobe Premiere Elements.

How do I fix CVE-2021-40788?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-40788 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2021-40788 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-40788 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-gcq4-5wpm-4gx6.