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The vulnerability resides in how Adobe Substance3D Painter versions 11.1.2 and earlier handle specific file structures during the parsing process. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious file, the application fails to properly validate a pointer before using it to access memory. Under certain conditions, this pointer does not reference a valid memory address (it becomes NULL). The subsequent attempt to dereference this NULL pointer leads to an invalid memory access, causing the application to terminate unexpectedly. This crash results in a denial-of-service condition, disrupting the user’s workflow and productivity. The attack vector is local, requiring the attacker to trick a victim into opening the malicious file (user interaction). While the confidentiality and integrity of data are not compromised, the availability of the application is impacted, leading to a CVSS base score of 5.5 (Medium) .
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: Adobe Substance3D Painter
Version: 11.1.2 and earlier
Vulnerability : NULL Pointer Dereference
Severity: Medium (5.5)
date: March 10, 2026
Prediction: April 2026
What Undercode Say:
Analysis:
The core issue is a failure to validate a pointer returned by a function during the parsing of a malformed .spp or similar project file. When the file structure is corrupted, a function expected to return a memory address returns NULL. The code then attempts to use this NULL address, triggering an access violation.
Bash/Commands:
Example of checking the installed version on Windows (via PowerShell)
Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\" | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "Substance3D Painter"} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion
Example of monitoring for application crashes on Linux (if run via Wine/Proton)
dmesg -T | grep -i "painter" | grep -i "segfault"
Example of a simple file hash check after downloading updates
sha256sum Substance3D_Painter_Update.exe
Exploit:
An attacker crafts a malicious project file (e.g., .spp). This file includes a specific block of data where a header field indicates a large data structure, but the corresponding data section is truncated or missing. When Painter reads the header and attempts to allocate memory and read the data based on the declared size, a function returns a NULL pointer. The software fails to check if the pointer is valid and subsequently attempts to write to or read from address 0x00000000, instantly crashing the application.
Protection:
- Update: Apply the official patch from Adobe as soon as it is released, updating to a version newer than 11.1.2.
- Awareness: Do not open Substance3D Painter files (.spp, .sbsar) from untrusted or unknown sources.
- Mitigation: Use application sandboxing or endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions that can monitor for abnormal application terminations and exploit attempts.
Impact:
A successful exploit leads to an application denial-of-service. This results in unsaved work being lost and productivity halting until the application is restarted. For professionals in 3D design and VFX pipelines, such a crash can disrupt critical workflows and lead to project delays.
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Sources:
Reported By: nvd.nist.gov
Extra Source Hub:
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