What is CVE-2021-40720?

CVE-2021-40720 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Adobe Ops-Cli, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-10-15.

How severe is CVE-2021-40720?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Deserialization in Adobe Ops-Cli

CVE-2021-40720

Ops CLI version 2.0.4 (and earlier) is affected by a Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability to achieve arbitrary code execution when the checkout_repo function is called on a maliciously crafted file. An attacker can leverage this to execute arbitrary code on the victim machine.

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

Published 2021-10-15 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.095 (95.3th percentile), scored 2026-10-03.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 95th percentile — 95.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.095 · newest: 0.095 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Adobe Ops-Cli — versions unspecified

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/ops_cli/apsb21-88.html (Patch, Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-40720?: CVE-2021-40720 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Adobe Ops-Cli, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-10-15.
How severe is CVE-2021-40720?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.