CVE-2025-27196: Adobe Premiere Pro Buffer Overflow Flaw

CVE-2025-27196 Overview

CVE-2025-27196 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Premiere Pro versions 25.1, 24.6.4, and earlier. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. The flaw maps to [CWE-122] (Heap-Based Buffer Overflow) and [CWE-787] (Out-of-Bounds Write). Exploitation requires user interaction: a victim must open a malicious project or media file in Premiere Pro. Adobe addressed the issue in the security bulletin APSB25-28 on April 8, 2025.

Critical Impact
Attackers who convince a user to open a crafted file can execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the logged-in user, enabling malware installation, data theft, or lateral movement.

Affected Products

Adobe Premiere Pro 25.1 and earlier (24.x branch)
Adobe Premiere Pro 24.6.4 and earlier
Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS installations

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-08 - Adobe publishes security bulletin APSB25-28 and releases patches
2025-04-08 - CVE-2025-27196 published to NVD
2025-05-05 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-27196

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow within Premiere Pro's media or project file parsing logic. When Premiere Pro processes a malformed input file, it writes data past the bounds of a heap-allocated buffer. This out-of-bounds write corrupts adjacent heap structures, including object metadata and function pointers used by the application.

Attackers can shape the corrupted heap to gain control of execution flow. Because Premiere Pro runs with the privileges of the interactive user, code execution occurs in that context. The issue requires local access combined with user interaction, which limits remote drive-by scenarios but aligns well with social engineering through shared project files or downloaded media assets.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient bounds checking during the parsing of attacker-controlled file structures. A length field, chunk size, or element count from the input file is trusted without validation against the destination buffer size. The parser then copies more bytes than the buffer can hold, producing the heap overflow described by [CWE-122] and [CWE-787].

Attack Vector

The attack vector is local with required user interaction. An attacker crafts a malicious Premiere Pro project file or media asset and delivers it through email attachments, file sharing platforms, or compromised collaboration workflows. When the victim opens the file in a vulnerable version of Premiere Pro, the parser triggers the heap overflow and executes attacker-controlled code. See the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-28 for vendor details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-27196

Indicators of Compromise

Premiere Pro processes (Adobe Premiere Pro.exe, Adobe Premiere Pro) spawning child processes such as cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or shells on macOS.
Unexpected crashes of Premiere Pro recorded in Windows Event Logs or macOS crash reporter following the opening of third-party project files.
Outbound network connections initiated by Premiere Pro to non-Adobe infrastructure shortly after a file is opened.

Detection Strategies

Hunt for anomalous process lineage where Premiere Pro is the parent of script interpreters, LOLBins, or persistence utilities.
Inspect file write activity by Premiere Pro into autorun, scheduled task, or LaunchAgent locations.
Correlate Premiere Pro crash telemetry with subsequent suspicious authentication or credential access events on the host.

Monitoring Recommendations

Inventory endpoints running Adobe Premiere Pro and confirm version is above 25.1 or the patched 24.x release.
Monitor EDR telemetry for memory corruption signals such as heap exception codes (0xC0000374, 0xC0000005) in Premiere Pro.
Track project files and media assets sourced from external collaborators and sandbox-detonate untrusted samples before opening.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-27196

Immediate Actions Required

Update Adobe Premiere Pro to the fixed versions listed in APSB25-28 on every Windows and macOS workstation.
Restrict opening of Premiere Pro project files received from untrusted or unverified sources.
Enforce least privilege so that creative workstation users do not hold local administrator rights.

Patch Information

Adobe released fixes on April 8, 2025 in security bulletin APSB25-28. Users of the 25.x branch should upgrade beyond version 25.1, and users on the 24.x branch should upgrade beyond 24.6.4. Apply updates through the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or enterprise deployment tooling.

Workarounds

No vendor-supplied workaround exists; patching is the only complete remediation.
Apply application allowlisting to block execution of unsigned binaries spawned from Premiere Pro.
Use a dedicated, network-isolated workstation for opening third-party Premiere Pro projects when immediate patching is not feasible.

bash

# Verify installed Premiere Pro version on Windows (PowerShell)
Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
  Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Adobe Premiere Pro*" } |
  Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion

# Verify installed Premiere Pro version on macOS
mdls -name kMDItemVersion "/Applications/Adobe Premiere Pro 2024/Adobe Premiere Pro 2024.app"