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Vulnerabilities/CVE-2016-1019
Vulnerability dossier

CVE-2016-1019

VendoradobePublishedApr 7, 2016SourceNVD
Act now

Actively exploited in the wild. Patch or mitigate immediately — don't wait for a maintenance window.

Severity
Critical · 9.8
CVSS base score
Exploitation
In the wild
CISA KEV
Predicted risk
22% model
EPSS forecast — overtaken by confirmed exploitation
Exposure
Internet-facing
Exploitable remotely, no login, no user action
01

What's the risk?

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.

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.

How it's exploitedMITRE ATT&CK · inferred from weakness & vector
Initial Access
T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application

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.

02

Who's exploiting it?

Corroborated threat activity referencing this CVE — with source and confidence, not inference.

Confirmed exploited in the wild. CISA KEV · catalogued Mar 3, 2022
campaignRansomware campaigns90CISA KEV
Observed techniques MITRE-analysed · CTID Mappings Explorer
T1105Ingress Tool TransferobservedT1189Drive-by CompromiseobservedT1486Data Encrypted for Impactobserved
Threat groups with matching tradecraft MITRE ATT&CK groups · by technique overlap
Magic Hound3 TTPsAPT383 TTPs
03

Are we affected?

9
  • Affectedadobe · air_desktop_runtime≤ 21.0.0.176
  • Affectedadobe · air_sdk≤ 21.0.0.176
  • Affectedadobe · air_sdk_\&_compiler≤ 21.0.0.176
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player≤ 21.0.0.197
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player≤ 11.2.202.577
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player≤ 21.0.0.197
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player≤ 18.0.0.333
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player≤ 21.0.0.197
  • Affectedadobe · flash_player_desktop_runtime≤ 21.0.0.197
04

What to do

Generated by Wavense from the CVE record — an immediate mitigation and the permanent fix.

  1. !

    Mitigate now

    Prior to patching, users should disable Adobe Flash Player in web browsers or configure it to "click-to-play" for all content. Implement network egress filtering to restrict outbound connections from potentially compromised systems. Enhance endpoint monitoring to detect suspicious process execution or unusual network activity associated with Flash Player.

  2. ✓

    Permanent fix

    The permanent resolution is to update Adobe Flash Player to a version patched against CVE-2016-1019, specifically any version newer than 21.0.0.197. All versions 21.0.0.197 and earlier are vulnerable and require immediate patching. Given its exploitation in the wild, apply this critical update without delay to remove the vulnerability.

Technical details— weakness, CVSS vector & calculator, related CVEs

Business impact

Successful exploitation allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim's system, leading to full system compromise, data theft, or further network penetration. Attackers can also trigger a denial of service, rendering the application unusable and disrupting business operations. This critical vulnerability poses a significant risk to data confidentiality, integrity, and system availability.

Weakness

No CWE classification has been assigned.

CVSS 3.1 details

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
0.0
/ 10.0 base
Critical severity
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploitability metrics
Attack VectorAV
Remotely exploitable across a network
Attack ComplexityAC
No special conditions required
Privileges RequiredPR
No authorization needed
User InteractionUI
No user participation needed
Impact metrics
ScopeS
Impact confined to the vulnerable component
ConfidentialityC
Total loss of confidentiality
IntegrityI
Total loss of integrity
AvailabilityA
Total loss of availability

Related vulnerabilities

Other CVEs affecting air desktop runtime

NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2016-4171KEV

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.

adobeNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2016-06-16
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2016-4117KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

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.

redhatNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2016-05-11
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-5123KEV

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.

redhatCWE-416Use After FreeNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-07-14
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-5122KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

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.

adobeCWE-416Use After FreeNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-07-14
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-5119KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

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.

redhatCWE-416Use After FreeNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-07-08
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-3113KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

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.

hpCWE-787Out-of-bounds WriteNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-06-23
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-3043KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.281 and 14.x through 17.x before 17.0.0.169 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.457 on Linux allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in April 2015, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-0347, CVE-2015-0350, CVE-2015-0352, CVE-2015-0353, CVE-2015-0354, CVE-2015-0355, CVE-2015-0360, CVE-2015-3038, CVE-2015-3041, and CVE-2015-3042.

redhatCWE-787Out-of-bounds WriteNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-04-14
NVD
9.8Critical
CVE-2015-0313KEV⚙ WeaponizedExploit likely

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.269 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.305 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.442 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in February 2015, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-0315, CVE-2015-0320, and CVE-2015-0322.

adobeCWE-416Use After FreeNetworkLow effortNo authNo interactionCIA
2015-02-02
0.0
/ 10.0 base
Critical severity
Key facts
CVE ID
CVE-2016-1019
Published
Apr 7, 2016
Last modified
Oct 1, 2026
CVSS
9.8 (v3.1)
EPSS
22.32%
In CISA KEV
Yes
Confidence
98/100
Timeline
  1. Apr 7, 2016Published to NVDNVD
  2. Oct 1, 2026Record last modifiedNVD
  3. Aug 17, 2026AI analysis generatedWavense
View on NVD
Sandworm Team2 TTPs
FIN72 TTPs
FIN82 TTPs
TA5052 TTPs

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”.