CVE-2025-54196: Adobe Connect Open Redirect Vulnerability

CVE-2025-54196 Overview

CVE-2025-54196 is an open redirect vulnerability affecting Adobe Connect versions 12.9 and earlier. The flaw allows attackers to craft URLs that redirect users from the trusted Adobe Connect domain to attacker-controlled sites. Exploitation requires user interaction, specifically a victim clicking a crafted link. The vulnerability is categorized under [CWE-601] (URL Redirection to Untrusted Site).

Attackers commonly abuse open redirects to bolster phishing campaigns, harvest credentials, and deliver malware while leveraging the legitimacy of the trusted domain. Adobe addressed the issue in its October 2025 security update.

Critical Impact
Attackers can weaponize legitimate Adobe Connect URLs to redirect victims to phishing pages or malware delivery infrastructure, bypassing user trust and URL filtering that whitelists Adobe domains.

Affected Products

Adobe Connect 12.9 and earlier
Deployments on Microsoft Windows
Deployments on Apple macOS

Discovery Timeline

2025-10-14 - CVE-2025-54196 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-54196

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-54196 stems from insufficient validation of redirect target URLs within Adobe Connect. The application accepts a user-controlled URL parameter and issues an HTTP redirect without verifying that the destination belongs to a trusted domain or matches an allow-list. Attackers exploit this trust boundary failure to abuse the Adobe Connect domain as a redirector.

The scope is Changed because the vulnerable component impacts resources beyond its own security authority, namely the browser session and any external site the victim lands on. Confidentiality and integrity are both partially impacted because a successful redirect can capture credentials or serve malicious content under the guise of a trusted service.

The attack requires no privileges on the Adobe Connect server. The attacker only needs to distribute a crafted URL through email, chat, or social media and convince a user to click it.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient allow-list validation on a redirect parameter processed by Adobe Connect. The application uses attacker-supplied input directly as the target of an HTTP 3xx response or client-side navigation. Without domain matching against a trusted set, arbitrary external hosts are accepted as redirect destinations.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is network-based and user-assisted. An attacker constructs a URL where the Adobe Connect hostname is preserved, but a query parameter or path fragment points to an attacker-controlled site. When a victim clicks the link, the Adobe Connect service issues a redirect to the untrusted destination. See the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-70 for vendor-supplied technical details.

The vulnerability manifests when the redirect handler consumes the URL parameter without validation. No verified proof-of-concept exploit or public exploit code is available at the time of writing.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-54196

Indicators of Compromise

Web server access logs showing Adobe Connect URLs containing suspicious redirect parameters pointing to external, non-Adobe domains
HTTP 302 or 303 responses from Adobe Connect endpoints with Location headers referencing attacker-controlled hosts
User reports of Adobe Connect links that navigate to unexpected login pages or download prompts
Email gateway logs flagging Adobe Connect URLs with embedded external URLs in query strings

Detection Strategies

Parse Adobe Connect proxy and web server logs for redirect parameters, then compare Referer and Location header hostnames against an allow-list.
Monitor DNS and HTTP telemetry for outbound requests from user endpoints that originate from an Adobe Connect referrer but resolve to newly registered or low-reputation domains.
Correlate email delivery events with subsequent user clicks on Adobe Connect URLs containing long or URL-encoded query parameters.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable URL rewriting and click-time analysis in email security gateways to inspect the full redirect chain, not just the initial hostname.
Alert on browser proxy events where the final landing domain differs from the initial Adobe Connect host by more than one redirect hop.
Ingest Adobe Connect access logs into a SIEM and build detections that flag redirect parameters containing external URLs, protocol handlers, or base64-encoded targets.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-54196

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Adobe Connect to the fixed release identified in Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-70.
Inventory all Adobe Connect deployments on Windows and macOS hosts and confirm the running version is later than 12.9.
Notify users to treat Adobe Connect links from untrusted senders with caution until patching is complete.

Patch Information

Adobe released a security update addressing CVE-2025-54196 as part of bulletin APSB25-70. Administrators should apply the update to all Adobe Connect servers running version 12.9 or earlier. Refer to the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-70 for the fixed version number and download links.

Workarounds

Deploy a reverse proxy or web application firewall rule that inspects redirect parameters on Adobe Connect URLs and blocks external destinations not on an allow-list.
Configure email security gateways to rewrite and sandbox Adobe Connect URLs so redirect targets are evaluated before the user is delivered.
Educate users to hover over links and validate the full URL, including query parameters, before clicking Adobe Connect invitations from unknown senders.

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block external redirect targets in Adobe Connect URLs
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx /connect/.*[?&](url|redirect|next|return)=https?%3A%2F%2F(?!yourdomain\.com)" \
    "id:1005401,phase:1,deny,status:403,log,msg:'Blocked Adobe Connect open redirect attempt (CVE-2025-54196)'"