Actively exploited vulnerability

Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Flash Player: denial of service flaw under attack

CVE-2009-1862 · Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Flash Player Unspecified Vulnerability

Concerns everyone who uses it7.8 high

What is affected

Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Flash Player is found on ordinary personal computers and phones, so this is not only a problem for companies. If you use it and have not updated since the fix was released, you are exposed.

Adobe Acrobat and Reader and Adobe Flash Player allows remote attackers to execute code or cause denial-of-service (DoS).

CISA's description

What an attacker can do

This is a denial of service flaw. It lets an attacker crash the product or make it unavailable to the people who rely on it.

How it is reached
Needs access to the device or a file opened on it
Access the attacker needs
No account needed
Does the victim have to do something?
Yes, the victim must open or click something

What to do

  1. Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Flash Player now. Open the update or "About" screen, install whatever is offered and restart the app or device, because the fix is not active until you do.
  2. Turn on automatic updates so the next fix arrives without you having to look for it.
  3. If your device is too old to receive this update, stop using the affected app for anything sensitive and plan a replacement.

For Adobe Acrobat and Reader, apply updates per vendor instructions. For Adobe Flash Player, the impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.

Action required by CISA for US federal agencies

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on June 8, 2022, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by June 22, 2022, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 21% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 98% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 7.8 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x through 9.1.2, and Adobe Flash Player 9.x through 9.0.159.0 and 10.x through 10.0.22.87, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via (1) a crafted Flash application in a .pdf file or (2) a crafted .swf file, related to authplay.dll, as exploited in the wild in July 2009.

NIST National Vulnerability Database
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