Adobe Flash Player AS3 ByteArray Use-After-Free
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.
Use-after-free vulnerability in the ByteArray class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13.x through 13.0.0.296 and 14.x through 18.0.0.194 on Windows and OS X and 11.x through 11.2.202.468 on Linux 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.
Techniques marked “observed” are corroborated by threat intelligence; the rest are inferred from the weakness type (CWE) and attack vector.
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.
As an interim measure, disable Flash Player in web browsers or configure it to use 'click-to-play' functionality, preventing automatic execution of Flash content. Implement robust endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for suspicious process activity originating from web browsers. Consider restricting access to untrusted websites that might host malicious Flash content.
The permanent resolution is to upgrade Adobe Flash Player to a patched version that addresses CVE-2015-5119. Users on Windows and OS X should update to Flash Player 18.0.0.203 or later, while Linux users should upgrade to 11.2.202.491 or later. Ensure all browsers and operating systems are regularly updated to receive the latest security patches for Flash Player components.
A remote attacker can exploit this use-after-free vulnerability via crafted Flash content to execute arbitrary code on the victim's system. This can lead to full system compromise, data theft, or a complete denial of service through memory corruption. Given its active exploitation in the wild, the risk of significant business disruption and data breach is critical.
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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.
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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.