CVE-2026-103825: 
Adobe Substance 3D Designer vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2026-103825 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe Substance 3D Designer that can lead to disclosure of sensitive memory contents. It affects Substance 3D Designer versions 16.0.4 and prior, with version 16.0.7 being the first unaffected release. The vulnerability was published on October 13, 2026, and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (Medium) (GitHub Advisory, Adobe Advisory).

The vulnerability is classified as CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), where the application reads data past the end of an intended buffer during file parsing operations. Exploitation requires a local attack vector and user interaction — specifically, a victim must open a specially crafted malicious file within Substance 3D Designer. No privileges are required on the part of the attacker, and the scope of impact remains unchanged (confined to the vulnerable component). The attack is mapped to CAPEC-540 (Overread Buffers), indicating the flaw likely resides in the application's file format parsing logic (GitHub Advisory, Adobe Advisory).

Successful exploitation results in high confidentiality impact, allowing an attacker to read sensitive data from the application's process memory. There is no impact to integrity or availability. The attack is limited to the local system context, meaning an attacker must socially engineer a target user into opening a malicious file, but the resulting memory disclosure could expose credentials, cryptographic material, or other sensitive in-memory data (GitHub Advisory).

There is no known public proof-of-concept exploit and no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at this time. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. The EPSS score is approximately 0.154% (4th percentile), indicating a low probability of exploitation in the near term. Exploitation is not automatable, as it requires user interaction to open a malicious file (GitHub Advisory, Adobe Advisory).

1. Craft a malicious file: Create a specially crafted Substance 3D Designer project file (e.g., .sbs or related format) that triggers an out-of-bounds read during parsing by embedding malformed data structures that cause the parser to read beyond the intended buffer boundary.
2. Deliver the file: Distribute the malicious file to a target user via email attachment, file-sharing platform, or a compromised/malicious website, using social engineering to convince the victim to open it.
3. Trigger the vulnerability: When the victim opens the malicious file in Substance 3D Designer (version 16.0.4 or earlier), the out-of-bounds read is triggered during file parsing.
4. Capture memory disclosure: The application reads and potentially exposes sensitive memory contents from the process address space, which may include in-memory credentials, keys, or other sensitive data that could be surfaced through application output, error messages, or a paired exploit chain (GitHub Advisory, Adobe Advisory).

• File System: Presence of unexpected or unsolicited .sbs, .sbsar, or other Substance Designer project files received via email or downloaded from untrusted sources.
• Logs: Application crash logs or error reports from Substance 3D Designer referencing memory access violations or out-of-bounds read errors around file parsing routines.
• Process: Substance 3D Designer process exhibiting abnormal memory access patterns or crashing upon opening specific files, potentially logged in Windows Event Viewer or macOS Console.

Adobe has released Substance 3D Designer version 16.0.7 to address this vulnerability; users should update immediately (Adobe Advisory). As a workaround prior to patching, users should avoid opening Substance 3D Designer project files received from untrusted or unknown sources. Organizations should consider restricting the application's access to sensitive data and applying file-type filtering at email and web gateways to reduce exposure.