When embedding the linked image, the software (Adobe Illustrator 30.6) freezes and crashes

When embedding the linked image, the software freezes and crashes. After a series of tests, it turns out that this externally linked masked image with a dropped shadow effect causes the software to crash when executing the embed image(s) action, which seems to be a program issue (Adobe Illustrator 30.6). I removed the dropped shadow from this image with grouped shape, duplicated the same circle without the linked image, and placed the dropped shadow effect behind it, then executed the embed action successfully. Hopefully, it will be fixed in future updates.