CVE-2009-3489
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 installs the Adobe Active File Monitor V8 service with an insecure security descriptor, which allows local…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 2.0%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 20% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 installs the Adobe Active File Monitor V8 service with an insecure security descriptor, which allows local users to (1) stop the service via the stop command, (2) execute arbitrary commands as SYSTEM by using the config command to modify the binPath variable, or (3) restart the service via the start command.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 2 Exploit-DB entries for it.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Adobe Photoshop Elements - Active File Monitor Service Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 9988local, windowspublished 29 Oct 2009Verified
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 - Active File Monitor Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 9807local, windowspublished 29 Sept 2009Verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 15 years later
· 15 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.0% · top 20% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
7
- 36542 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- ADV-2009-2798 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- 20090929 Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Active File Monitor Service Bad Security Descriptor Local Elevation Of Privileges (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/09/potential_photoshop_elements_8.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1022963 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- http://retrogod.altervista.org/9sg_adobe_pe_local.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 36895 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2009-3471 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2009-3489)Record last updated .