Adobe Flash Player Heap Buffer Overflow RCE
Actively exploited in the wild. Patch or mitigate immediately — don't wait for a maintenance window.
An unauthenticated attacker, remotely over the network, with no user interaction, can fully compromise the system — steal data, tamper with it and take it offline.
Heap-based buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.296 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.194 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.468 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in June 2015.
Inferred from the weakness type (CWE) and how the flaw is reached — the techniques an attacker would chain to exploit this. Real-world corroboration appears here as threat intel is folded in.
Corroborated threat activity referencing this CVE — with source and confidence, not inference.
Groups documented using the techniques observed against this CVE — a tradecraft association, not a confirmed attribution. Overlap count shown; click for the MITRE profile.
These techniques were analysed against this CVE's real-world exploitation — the matching entries in the ATT&CK chain above are marked “observed”.
Generated by Wavense from the CVE record — an immediate mitigation and the permanent fix.
Until patching, administrators should disable Flash Player plugins in web browsers or configure click-to-play functionality to prevent automatic execution. Implement strict network egress filtering to block connections to known malicious C2 servers and enhance endpoint detection and response (EDR) monitoring for suspicious process activity related to Flash. Consider isolating systems that must run Flash in sandboxed environments.
The permanent fix involves immediately upgrading Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.296, 18.0.0.194 (for Windows/OS X), or 11.2.202.468 (for Linux) or newer. Alternatively, consider completely uninstalling Adobe Flash Player, as it is a deprecated and high-risk technology, to eliminate this and future Flash vulnerabilities. Ensure all browser plugins are updated or removed accordingly.
This critical heap-based buffer overflow allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on affected systems without user interaction. Successful exploitation can lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, and the establishment of persistent backdoors, severely impacting business operations and data confidentiality. This vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild.
Other CVEs affecting flash player
OpenSLP as used in ESXi and the Horizon DaaS appliances has a heap overwrite issue. VMware has evaluated the severity of this issue to be in the Critical severity range with a maximum CVSSv3 base score of 9.8.
Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.242 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors, as exploited in the wild in June 2016.
Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.226 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in May 2016.
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 6u113, 7u99, and 8u77; Java SE Embedded 8u77; and JRockit R28.3.9 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via vectors related to JMX.
Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in April 2016.
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 6u95, 7u80, and 8u45, and Java SE Embedded 7u75 and 8u33 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Libraries, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-4732.
Use-after-free vulnerability in the BitmapData class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13.x through 13.0.0.302 on Windows and OS X, 14.x through 18.0.0.203 on Windows and OS X, 11.x through 11.2.202.481 on Linux, and 12.x through 18.0.0.204 on Linux Chrome installations allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted Flash content that overrides a valueOf function, as exploited in the wild in July 2015.
Use-after-free vulnerability in the DisplayObject class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13.x through 13.0.0.302 on Windows and OS X, 14.x through 18.0.0.203 on Windows and OS X, 11.x through 11.2.202.481 on Linux, and 12.x through 18.0.0.204 on Linux Chrome installations allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted Flash content that leverages improper handling of the opaqueBackground property, as exploited in the wild in July 2015.