CVE-2025-54202: Adobe Substance 3D Modeler Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-54202 Overview

CVE-2025-54202 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability affecting Adobe Substance 3D Modeler versions 1.22.0 and earlier. The flaw allows an attacker to read memory outside allocated buffer boundaries, potentially disclosing sensitive process memory. Exploitation requires user interaction: a victim must open a crafted malicious file in the affected application. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-125 (Out-of-Bounds Read) and carries local attack vector characteristics.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation can disclose sensitive memory contents from the Substance 3D Modeler process, which may include pointers useful for bypassing address space layout randomization or other sensitive runtime data.

Affected Products

Adobe Substance 3D Modeler 1.22.0
Adobe Substance 3D Modeler versions prior to 1.22.0
Windows and macOS installations of the affected versions

Discovery Timeline

2025-08-12 - CVE-2025-54202 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in the NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-54202

Vulnerability Analysis

Substance 3D Modeler parses complex 3D asset file formats to reconstruct scenes, meshes, and materials. The out-of-bounds read occurs when the application processes malformed structures in a crafted file and reads beyond the end of an allocated buffer. The returned data may be reflected back into application state, logs, or memory regions accessible to the attacker-controlled file processing pipeline. This allows disclosure of adjacent heap or stack memory. Impact is confined to confidentiality, with no direct integrity or availability consequences per the CVSS vector.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient bounds validation during parsing of untrusted file content. The code path accesses an index or pointer offset derived from attacker-controlled fields without verifying that the computed offset remains within the allocated buffer. See the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-76 for vendor-confirmed details.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local user interaction. An attacker crafts a malicious 3D project or asset file and delivers it to the victim through email, download, shared storage, or an asset marketplace. The victim opens the file in Substance 3D Modeler, triggering the out-of-bounds read in the parser. Disclosed memory may be returned to the attacker through file export workflows, telemetry, or chained with other issues to assist exploitation of a separate memory corruption bug.

// No verified public proof-of-concept is available for CVE-2025-54202.
// Refer to Adobe advisory APSB25-76 for authoritative technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-54202

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected crashes or exception events generated by Adobe Substance 3D Modeler.exe while opening project or asset files
Receipt of unsolicited 3D asset files (for example .sbs, .sbp, or related Substance project formats) from external or untrusted sources
Substance 3D Modeler processes writing or transmitting unusually large output files shortly after opening a received asset

Detection Strategies

Inventory endpoints running Substance 3D Modeler versions 1.22.0 and earlier using software asset management or endpoint telemetry
Monitor process telemetry for the Substance 3D Modeler binary spawning anomalous child processes or performing outbound network connections after file open events
Alert on file-open events for Substance project formats originating from browser downloads, email attachments, or removable media

Monitoring Recommendations

Correlate file-write events in user download directories with subsequent launches of Substance 3D Modeler
Capture crash dump artifacts from affected hosts and triage for parser faults consistent with out-of-bounds read conditions
Track application version strings in endpoint inventory and flag hosts remaining on 1.22.0 or earlier after the patch window

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-54202

Immediate Actions Required

Update Adobe Substance 3D Modeler to the fixed version listed in Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-76
Instruct users to avoid opening Substance 3D project or asset files received from untrusted sources
Validate the integrity and origin of third-party asset libraries before importing them into the application

Patch Information

Adobe addressed CVE-2025-54202 in the security update described in Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-76. Administrators should deploy the updated Substance 3D Modeler build to all affected endpoints and confirm the installed version is later than 1.22.0.

Workarounds

Restrict Substance 3D Modeler usage to trusted project files until patching is complete
Open suspicious or externally sourced files in an isolated virtual machine or sandboxed workstation that cannot access sensitive data
Apply application allowlisting or endpoint controls to prevent unauthorized Substance project files from executing in production environments

bash

# Verify installed Substance 3D Modeler version on Windows
# PowerShell example - check installed application version
Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
  Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "*Substance 3D Modeler*" } |
  Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion