Adobe has been forced to patch its Creative Cloud service after an update deleted its users’ files without warning, sparking outrage online.
The bug affected Mac users utilizing Backblaze, which provides Creative Cloud users with backup software, with it accessing their hard drives and deleting their first Backblaze root folder. The bug’s infiltration of their personal files understandably infuriated Mac users, with Backblaze writing a blog post confirming that it was a known issue after news the problem began making the rounds.
Backblaze learned of the problem on February 12th after receiving multiple support tickets pertaining to the bug, with Adobe later confirming that a “small number of users” who were utilizing Backblaze and who had downloaded the update would be affected. Adobe wrote: “Earlier today we were notified of an issue with an update to the Creative Cloud Desktop application on Mac that we rolled out earlier in the week. In a small number of cases, the updater may incorrectly remove some files from the system root directory with user-writable permissions.
“We have removed the update from distribution, and are in the process of deploying a new update which addresses the issue. When prompted for the update, Creative Cloud members should install it as normal.”
However, despite Adobe having since issued a fix (which you can access here), many are still concerned that the bug was able to harm their files stored in other applications. One Reddit user wrote: “As someone affected by this bug I am pretty annoyed. Materially it hasn’t (yet) cost me any work, but it’s a huge violation of trust. I’ve come to accept Adobe apps are bloated, crufty and unfinished, but I hadn’t considered their rushed development & QA practices could actually infect other applications on my computer.” Another added: “Adobe doing anything to my filesystem outside of Adobe folder apps and a .plist here and there is fucking atrocious.”
Adobe later thanked Backblaze for addressing the issue in a post of their own,
