CVE-2025-21127
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21127 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Search Path Element (CWE-427) vulnerability in Adobe Photoshop. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique DLL (T1574.001); ranked at the 20.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-21127 is an Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability (CWE-427) affecting Adobe Photoshop Desktop versions 25.12, 26.1, and earlier. The flaw allows an attacker to manipulate the search path environment variable to direct the application toward a malicious library, leading to arbitrary code execution when Photoshop loads the library. Published on January 14, 2025, the vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Exploitation requires local access to the victim's system with no privileges needed, though user interaction is mandatory as the victim must launch the vulnerable Photoshop application. A malicious actor could leverage this by altering environment variables—such as PATH or LD_LIBRARY_PATH—to prioritize a controlled DLL or shared object, enabling full arbitrary code execution with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability upon application startup.
Adobe's security bulletin APSB25-02, available at https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/photoshop/apsb25-02.html, addresses this issue and provides guidance on mitigation, including recommendations to apply the latest security updates for affected Photoshop versions.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-2234
Vulnerability details
Photoshop Desktop versions 25.12, 26.1 and earlier are affected by an Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary code execution. An attacker could manipulate the search path environment variable to point to a malicious library, resulting in…
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the execution of arbitrary code when the application loads. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must run the vulnerable application.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
CWE-427 uncontrolled search path directly enables DLL side-loading (T1574.002) for arbitrary code execution on app launch.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Flaw remediation directly eliminates the uncontrolled search path vulnerability by applying Adobe's security patches for affected Photoshop versions.
Vulnerability scanning identifies the presence of CVE-2025-21127 in Photoshop installations, enabling targeted remediation.
Monitoring security alerts and advisories such as Adobe's APSB25-02 provides timely awareness of the vulnerability and patch availability.