Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-34703

Memory Safety in Adobe Indesign ≤ 20.5.4

Memory Safety
Published
09 June 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0013 3th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-34703 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Adobe Indesign. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Malicious File (T1204.002); ranked at the 3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

InDesign Desktop versions 21.3, 20.5.3 and earlier are affected by a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability that could result in an application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the application, leading to a denial-of-service condition. Exploitation of this…

more

issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

CWE(s)
CWE-476

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1204.002 Malicious File Execution
An adversary may rely upon a user opening a malicious file in order to gain execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

NULL dereference enables application DoS via malicious file opened by user (T1204.002); maps to endpoint DoS via app exploitation (T1499.004).

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-34704Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2023-21593Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2025-27179Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2023-44347Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2023-44341Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2026-21350Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-30321Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2024-41836Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2024-41866Same product: Adobe Indesign
CVE-2024-39395Same product: Adobe Indesign

Affected Assets

adobe
indesign
≤ 20.5.4 · 21.0 — 21.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-3 Malicious Code Protection
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-3 Malicious Code Protection
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

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Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly requires timely patching of the InDesign flaw that causes the NULL pointer dereference on malicious file open.

SI-3 Malicious Code Protection partial match
preventdetect

Malicious-code scanning of files before opening blocks or alerts on the crafted InDesign document that triggers the crash.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match
prevent

Enforces validation of file content and structure to reject malformed input that leads to the dereference.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References