This content has only been tested on Windows 11 24H2 LTSC 64-bit. The Windows environment should work fine, but I cannot guarantee compatibility with Linux, Mac, or other environments.
Actually, I think it should be possible, since Clash likely has other versions, right...? This method doesn’t rely on modifying the Hosts file or anything like that, but as for GenP, I really don’t know.
This article was last updated on May 12, 2025, and as of today, this method is still effective. If it becomes ineffective, I will promptly update it here.

A Few Things About Adobe Verification

This section explains how Adobe performs verification.

First, Adobe pulls the primary verification method from its official website, attempting to access ic.adobe.io for the initial verification step.

Then, in the second step, as of recent times (May 2025), Adobe added a user agreement address at cc-api-data.adobe.io. This triggers a user agreement pop-up when launching Adobe software, and regardless of whether you agree, it uses this to perform verification.

Finally, the third step is that Adobe periodically generates a random domain for verification attempts, typically in the following formats:

• Domains like 0mo5a70cqa.adobe.io, a 10-character random string.adobe.io combination
• Domains like 0bj2epfqn1.adobestats.io, a 10-character random string.adobestats.io combination
• Domains like qivgqug798p.7cnli.adobestats.io, an 8-12 character random string.5-character random string.adobestats.io combination

In addition, Adobe’s official Creative Cloud and the notorious Genuine Service also have genuine verification functions. However, they use the same verification channels as described above. If you don’t actively open these two applications for local validation, verification won’t be triggered. As for how to remove AGS (Adobe Genuine Service), I’ll cover that later.

Recently, Adobe has become increasingly aggressive, generating a random verification address almost every day as their first task. While you can check a community-provided DNS list at this website, constantly battling Adobe is inconvenient. Plus, some users may need to modify their Hosts file for other purposes, such as accessing SteamCommunity. As of May 12, 2025, this website has recorded 2,191 verification URLs, which is a significant burden on your Hosts file. Moreover, most programs using DNS rules overwrite the Hosts file, making it highly inconvenient.

So, I wrote this article to teach everyone how to defeat Adobe’s local verification. It’s not that I want to use pirated software—it’s just that Adobe’s subscription prices are outrageously expensive, and without a subscription, you can’t use their software at all. For those who don’t frequently use Adobe for design, it’s simply not worth it. I’d like to apologize to the great John Warnock in advance and hope you can soon convince God to smite this planet, which lacks the spirit of open source, with fire and brimstone.

Please note that using cracked Adobe software means you cannot access Adobe’s official stock library or AI generation services. Blocking these verification addresses won’t affect your normal use of Adobe software, but since you don’t have a genuine licensed account, you won’t be able to access features like the stock library, AI generation, or collaborative platforms. I also encourage graphic designers or video editors with genuine needs to purchase a legitimate license. In profitable scenarios, the price of a genuine Adobe license through certain channels is actually reasonable and aligns with legal and ethical standards.

Required Software

First, we need an excellent traffic proxy software. I recommend and require using only Clash, with the project available here. This is a community-maintained version of Clash called Clash-verge-rev. It essentially optimizes the Clash core and provides a user-friendly GUI, making it simple and powerful to use. Please, stop using outdated SSR-related software, and don’t come to me asking about certain VPNs.

Second, we need an Adobe verification tool called Adobe GenP, with the project available here. There are plenty of tutorials online about this tool, so this article won’t go into too much detail on how to use it. In the latest release on April 25, 2025, the author added a bounce-back patch provided by other contributors, which prevents Adobe from displaying the red pop-up warning, “Please stop using unauthorized software.” However, even with this patch, I recommend blocking Adobe’s online verification to prevent Adobe from invalidating the patch too quickly.

Specific Operation Steps

First, you need to use Adobe GenP to apply the crack patch and bounce-back patch to your Adobe software. For detailed instructions, refer to other people’s video tutorials. The bounce-back patch is located in the Pop-up Tools tab under the WinTrust section. We’ll discuss how this feature works in the principles section later. Also, if you’re installing Adobe components via Creative Cloud for the first time, don’t forget to uninstall AGS and disable any Adobe-related processes from auto-starting on boot.

Next, open Clash, go to the “Subscriptions” tab, select the global extension script, right-click to edit the file, and replace its contents with the following code.

function main(config, profileName) {
if (!config || typeof config !== 'object') {
config = {};
}

if (!Array.isArray(config.rules)) {
config.rules = [];
}

config?.rules.unshift(
"DOMAIN-SUFFIX,ic.adobe.io,REJECT-DROP",
"DOMAIN-SUFFIX,cc-api-data.adobe.io,REJECT-DROP",
"DOMAIN-REGEX,^(?i)[a-z0-9]{10}\\.adobe\\.io$,REJECT-DROP",
"DOMAIN-REGEX,^(?i)[a-z0-9]{10}\\.adobestats\\.io$,REJECT-DROP",
"DOMAIN-REGEX,^(?i)[a-z0-9]{8,12}\\.[a-z0-9]{5}\\.adobestats\\.io$,REJECT-DROP"
);

return config;
}


After that, click save, close Clash, and restart it. This completes the blocking of Adobe’s genuine verification.

As of Beijing time on May 12, 2025, this method is still effective. If it becomes ineffective in the future, please contact me, and I will update the code.

Principles for the Curious

Alright, if you’ve made it this far, it means you either don’t trust me or are curious about what this code does. First, this is not malicious code—it’s just a simple regex filtering statement that tells Clash which domains to block. Essentially, modifying DNS redirects Adobe’s verification addresses to a null IP (0.0.0.0), preventing access and thus blocking verification. Clash, as a traffic proxy tool, has the same functionality.

Let’s break down what this code does. This is JavaScript code, a common backend scripting language.

The first part is the function header, declaring a function called main that takes two parameters: the config configuration object and profileName.

Based on feedback from some users, the author has added two logical statements here. The first, !config, checks whether the config parameter is null, undefined, or other falsy values. The typeof config !== 'object' statement verifies whether config is of the correct object type; if not, it resets it to an empty object ({}). The second logical statement, Array.isArray(config.rules), checks whether config.rules is an array type (Array); if not, it assigns the correct value. In short, this code serves as defensive programming, strictly ensuring that errors or program crashes due to missing config or config.rules are avoided when users lack a subscription to a proxy provider.

The next part is the implementation. The second line uses the optional chaining operator (.?) to safely access the config.rules array and inserts the following new rules at the beginning of the array using the unshift() method.

Finally, it returns the config object and closes the function.

The regex expressions need particular explanation.

First, let’s explain the roles of DOMAIN-SUFFIX (domain suffix matching) and DOMAIN-REGEX (regular expression matching). The complete syntax is: "match type,<suffix or regex>,<action>". The former matches all domains ending with the specified string, while the latter matches all domains that conform to the regex. We noticed that ic.adobe.io and cc-api-data.adobe.io are distinct domains with specific characteristics, so we used suffix matching to filter them. However, randomly generated gibberish domains require regex for filtering. There’s also a DOMAIN match type, but it strictly requires matching the exact address, which is cumbersome and restrictive, so we generally don’t use it.

Next, let’s introduce the regex syntax. The (?i) flag makes the string case-insensitive. Although Adobe hasn’t gone so far as to use case sensitivity, I included this for future-proofing. [a-z0-9] indicates a random string containing lowercase letters a-z and digits 0-9, such as a0b1c2d3e4f5g6. {8,12} specifies that the string length is between 8 and 12 characters, while {10} precisely requires a length of 10 characters. The \\. matches the domain separator .. This needs clarification: in regex, a backslash escapes special characters, as some characters have specific meanings in assembly language and could cause confusion if used directly. Two backslashes escape the escape, as the backslash itself is a special character in assembly language. Finally, ^ and $ denote exact start and end matching, meaning the regex between these symbols is complete and won’t filter higher-level domains.

Many readers who have their own ideas and have reached this point may realize one thing: this code only filters three types of domains. Yes, that’s correct, because Adobe’s random generation is currently limited to these cases. Note that even these three domain types cover a total of 6210(2+623+624+625+626+627) combinations. Taking the logarithm, this is roughly on the order of 10³³, or a quintillion-level number. By the time Adobe exhausts these random combinations, the universe will probably have undergone heat death, so there’s no need to worry about running out of domains.

Of course, we can’t rule out Adobe going so far as to add new types, such as multi-level domains or special characters. Readers of this article can try writing new domain-filtering regex themselves or wait for my future updates.