Adobe wrote to my hosts file. I've never had an app do this before
speckx
82 points
19 comments
April 03, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (7 comments)
aisignaldev
This is the kind of thing that erodes trust slowly. Most users will never notice, and that's exactly the point. Would be interesting to know if this is documented anywhere in Adobe's ToS or if it's purely undisclosed behavior.
curt15
How is Adobe modifying a system file at all? Does Adobe run a background process with root privileges?
10729287
The same Adobe that is squatting my /documents folder on my Mac ?
jt2190
Redditor thenickdude commented: > I found that in my hosts file the other day too, and I investigated to find why they're doing it at all. > They're using this to detect if you have Creative Cloud already installed when you visit on their website. > When you visit https://www.adobe.com/home , they load this image using JavaScript: https://detect-ccd.creativecloud.adobe.com/cc.png > If the DNS entry in your hosts file is present, your browser will therefore connect to their server, so they know you have Creative Cloud installed, otherwise the load fails, which they detect. > They used to just hit http://localhost:<various ports>/cc.png which connected to your Creative Cloud app directly, but then Chrome started blocking Local Network Access, so they had to do this hosts file hack instead.
ChrisArchitect
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47617463
makeitrain
Ddev does this too, to set up local domains when you’re offline. Asks for permission at least.
altairprime
Sounds like a job for chattr +i, though who knows what will happen someday if a macOS installer script tries to modify it.