# CVE-2021-43017: Adobe Creative Cloud DLL Hijacking Local Application Denial of Service

> An authenticated attacker with root privileges can cause denial of service in Adobe Creative Cloud by planting a malicious file, requiring user interaction during installation.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** 18 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-85rf-rp2v-42mg

## What is CVE-2021-43017?

CVE-2021-43017 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Adobe GoCart, published on 18 Nov 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 version 5.5 (and earlier) are affected by an Application denial of service vulnerability in the Creative Cloud Desktop installer. An authenticated attacker with root privileges could leverage this vulnerability to achieve denial of service by planting a malicious file on the victim's local machine. 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-2021-43017?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-43017?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-43017 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-43017 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-43017 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe GoCart

- [CVE-2020-9671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9671/): Privilege escalation in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-9682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9682/): Path traversal in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-9670](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9670/): Path traversal in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-48272](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48272/): Creative Cloud Desktop | Uncontrolled Search Path Element (CWE-427) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2026-48344](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48344/): GoCart | Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (CWE-367) (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-43017 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-43017 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Adobe GoCart, published on 18 Nov 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-2021-43017 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe GoCart. 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-2021-43017/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43017/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-43017
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-43017
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-43017

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43017/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.