CVE-2025-61817: Adobe InCopy Use After Free Vulnerability

CVE-2025-61817 Overview

CVE-2025-61817 is a Use After Free vulnerability [CWE-416] affecting Adobe InCopy versions 20.5, 19.5.5, and earlier. The flaw allows attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation requires user interaction, meaning a victim must open a malicious file crafted by the attacker. Adobe published the issue on November 11, 2025, and addressed it in security advisory APSB25-107.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation grants attackers arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running InCopy, enabling document theft, lateral movement, or persistence on macOS and Windows endpoints.

Affected Products

Adobe InCopy 20.5 and earlier 20.x versions
Adobe InCopy 19.5.5 and earlier 19.x versions
Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows installations running affected InCopy builds

Discovery Timeline

2025-11-11 - CVE-2025-61817 published to NVD and Adobe releases security bulletin APSB25-107
2025-11-12 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-61817

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a Use After Free condition in Adobe InCopy, the editorial companion application to Adobe InDesign. Use After Free flaws occur when an application continues to reference memory after it has been deallocated, allowing attackers to manipulate the freed region with controlled data. When InCopy later dereferences the stale pointer, the attacker-controlled content can redirect execution flow.

Adobe categorizes the impact as arbitrary code execution in the security advisory APSB25-107. The attack vector is local and requires user interaction, fitting the standard pattern for client-side document parser vulnerabilities. An attacker delivers a malicious .icml, .indd, or related project file through email, file sharing, or web download.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper memory lifetime management within InCopy's document parsing or rendering routines. A specific object is freed while a reference to it remains in use. Attackers craft document structures that trigger the premature free and then reuse the dangling pointer to overwrite function pointers or virtual table entries.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires the victim to open a malicious InCopy document. The attack vector is local, but delivery typically occurs through phishing, malicious attachments, or compromised collaboration platforms. Once the file opens, the parser triggers the freed-memory dereference and executes attacker-supplied shellcode at the privilege level of the InCopy process.

No public proof-of-concept exploit is currently available, and the EPSS score reflects a low predicted probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-61817

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected child processes spawned by InCopy.exe on Windows or Adobe InCopy 20 on macOS, such as cmd.exe, powershell.exe, bash, or osascript
InCopy process crashes followed by network connections to unfamiliar external hosts
Inbound .icml, .indd, .idml, or .incx files from untrusted senders or staged in unusual directories

Detection Strategies

Monitor endpoints for anomalous process lineage where Adobe InCopy spawns interpreters or shells
Inspect crash dumps and Windows Error Reporting telemetry for repeated faults in InCopy memory management routines
Apply behavioral analytics that flag document applications writing executables or modifying autorun locations

Monitoring Recommendations

Centralize endpoint telemetry covering process creation, file writes, and module loads for Adobe Creative Cloud applications
Track installed versions of InCopy across the fleet and alert on hosts still running 20.5, 19.5.5, or earlier
Correlate email gateway logs with endpoint events to identify users who received and opened suspicious InCopy documents

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-61817

Immediate Actions Required

Update Adobe InCopy to the fixed versions listed in Adobe security advisory APSB25-107
Restrict opening of InCopy documents received from external or untrusted sources until patches are applied
Communicate phishing awareness guidance to editorial and production teams who routinely handle InCopy files

Patch Information

Adobe addressed CVE-2025-61817 in security bulletin Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-107. Administrators should deploy the updated InCopy builds for the 20.x and 19.x branches through the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application or enterprise deployment tooling. Verify post-patch versions on all endpoints to confirm remediation.

Workarounds

Block delivery of InCopy file extensions at email and web gateways from untrusted external senders
Run InCopy under standard user accounts without administrative privileges to limit post-exploitation impact
Use application allowlisting to prevent InCopy from launching shells, scripting hosts, or arbitrary executables