Since Creative Cloud 6.11 the UPIA installs hybrid UXP plugins as root on macOS — two failure modes

UXP
,
1

After the Creative Cloud desktop app updated to 6.11.0.479 (2026-10-15), every install of our hybrid UXP plugin (.ccx with a .uxpaddon) on macOS 26.6 comes out broken in one of two ways:

  • A. PluginsInfo/v1/premierepro.json records the plugin as $systemPlugins/root/External/<id>_<v> — a folder that does not exist — so Premiere logs Failed to open the manifest.json and shows no plugin, although the files were copied correctly under Plugins/<user>/External/.
  • B. The installed tree is root:wheel 744. The .uxpaddon still loads (dlopen only reads), so the panel starts, but every bundled helper executable fails with permission denied when the plugin spawns it.

The same .ccx installed fine 20 times before the update (755, record under <user>). The logs show why: the ExMan elevate server no longer launches (launchElevateServer failed) and Creative Cloud falls back to launchAIviaAUS, an installer worker that runs with root’s own environment (uid 0 in the system EMCL.log) instead of impersonating the requesting user. Same CC version on Windows is not affected: there the UAC worker keeps the user’s name and inherited ACLs.

Workarounds: chmod -R a+rX + fixing the record by hand; or installing into the user tree ($localPlugins/External/…), where the hybrid plugin loads with no elevation at all — verified.

Questions for Adobe: should the AUS-launched installer impersonate the requesting user (HOME, umask) as before? Is there a supported user-level install target for hybrid .ccx plugins?

2

@birdofscript Thanks for reporting the issue. I’m trying to reproduce the issue at my end.
To help with the investigation, could you please share the logs collected using the Adobe Log Collector tool and send them to neearora at adobe dot com.

Additionally, please share your email ID via DM, so that we can schedule a session to look into the exact steps to reproduce the issue. This will help us gather the necessary details and investigate the issue further.

3

Also posted about this issue here:

4

Thanks for looking into it.

I have emailed you the Adobe Log Collector output from the affected Mac, two Premiere UXP logs the collector skipped (they hold the “Failed to open the manifest.json … Plugins/root/External” lines) and the full technical report with the verbatim log excerpts, with Bruce in copy.

I can reproduce it on demand, so a screen recording of the exact steps is available if useful; my address is in that email for scheduling.