CVE-2024-49522: Adobe Substance 3D Painter RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2024-49522 Overview

CVE-2024-49522 is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability [CWE-787] in Adobe Substance3D Painter versions 10.0.1 and earlier. The flaw allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user when a victim opens a malicious file. Exploitation requires user interaction, limiting mass exploitation, but successful attacks give attackers full user-level control on the affected workstation. Adobe published fixes in security bulletin APSB24-52. The vulnerability affects designers and 3D artists who routinely open third-party project files, making phishing and supply-chain delivery viable attack paths.

Critical Impact
Attackers who convince a user to open a crafted Substance3D Painter file can execute arbitrary code with the current user's privileges.

Affected Products

Adobe Substance3D Painter 10.0.1
Adobe Substance3D Painter versions earlier than 10.0.1
Windows and macOS installations running vulnerable Substance3D Painter builds

Discovery Timeline

2024-11-05 - CVE-2024-49522 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-49522

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is an out-of-bounds write [CWE-787] in Adobe Substance3D Painter. Out-of-bounds writes occur when an application writes data past the end or before the beginning of an allocated buffer. In parsers for complex 3D file formats, such flaws typically arise when the application trusts size, offset, or count fields embedded in the file without validating them against the actual buffer length.

When the attacker controls the overwritten memory, they can corrupt adjacent structures such as function pointers, virtual method tables, or heap metadata. This corruption is the primitive used to redirect execution and achieve arbitrary code execution in the process's user context. Because Substance3D Painter runs as a normal desktop application, successful exploitation grants the attacker the privileges of the logged-in user, including access to files, credentials, and network resources.

The attack vector is local and requires user interaction, so an attacker must deliver a malicious .spp project file, texture, mesh, or related asset and convince the target to open it.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient bounds checking on data parsed from an untrusted file. Adobe's advisory categorizes the issue as an out-of-bounds write, indicating that a length or index value derived from the file is used directly in a memory write without validation against the destination buffer.

Attack Vector

An attacker crafts a malicious Substance3D Painter asset and delivers it through email attachments, marketplaces for 3D content, shared project directories, or compromised software supply chains. When the victim opens the file in a vulnerable version of Substance3D Painter, the malformed structure triggers the out-of-bounds write during parsing and executes attacker-controlled code. See the Adobe Security Update APSB24-52 for vendor technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-49522

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected child processes spawned by Adobe Substance 3D Painter.exe, especially shells, scripting hosts, or rundll32.exe
Substance3D Painter process crashes or exceptions logged shortly after opening a downloaded or emailed project file
Substance3D Painter writing executable content to %TEMP%, %APPDATA%, or user-writable startup locations
Outbound network connections from the Substance3D Painter process to unknown external hosts

Detection Strategies

Monitor process lineage: alert when Substance3D Painter spawns interpreters (powershell.exe, cmd.exe, wscript.exe, bash) or launches unsigned binaries.
Correlate application crash telemetry with recent file-open events to identify attempted exploitation of parsing bugs.
Track file provenance for Substance3D project files (.spp, .spt, .sbsar) received from external sources and opened by end users.

Monitoring Recommendations

Inventory endpoints running Substance3D Painter and record installed versions for compliance against version 10.1 or later.
Enable EDR module hardening and exploit protection features for Substance3D Painter process images.
Ship endpoint telemetry, including process creation, module loads, and file writes, to a central analytics tier for retroactive hunting on new IOCs tied to APSB24-52.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-49522

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Adobe Substance3D Painter to the fixed release identified in Adobe Security Update APSB24-52.
Restrict which users can install or run Substance3D Painter until patching is complete on all creative workstations.
Instruct users not to open Substance3D Painter project files from untrusted email, chat, or third-party marketplaces.

Patch Information

Adobe addressed CVE-2024-49522 in Adobe Substance3D Painter version 10.1 and later, published in security bulletin APSB24-52 on November 5, 2024. Administrators should deploy the update through the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or their standard software distribution tooling and verify the installed version on every endpoint.

Workarounds

Where patching is delayed, block execution of Substance3D Painter through application allowlisting on non-essential systems.
Route inbound 3D asset files through a sandboxed review environment before allowing them onto production designer workstations.
Enforce least-privilege user accounts so that successful exploitation does not grant administrative rights on the host.

bash

# Verify installed Substance3D Painter version on Windows
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter" /s | findstr /I "Version"

# Verify installed Substance3D Painter version on macOS
defaults read "/Applications/Adobe Substance 3D Painter/Adobe Substance 3D Painter.app/Contents/Info.plist" CFBundleShortVersionString