Actively exploited vulnerability

Adobe Flash Player: security bypass flaw under attack

CVE-2015-0310 · Adobe Flash Player ASLR Bypass Vulnerability

Concerns everyone who uses it7.8 high

What is affected

Adobe 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 Flash Player does not properly restrict discovery of memory addresses, which allows attackers to bypass the address space layout randomization (ASLR) protection mechanism.

CISA's description

What an attacker can do

This is a security bypass flaw. It lets an attacker slip past a built-in protection, so warnings and checks that normally stop malicious content never appear.

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 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.

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 May 25, 2022, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by June 15, 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 15% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 97% 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

Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.262 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.287 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.438 on Linux does not properly restrict discovery of memory addresses, which allows attackers to bypass the ASLR protection mechanism on Windows, and have an unspecified impact on other platforms, via unknown vectors, as exploited in the wild in January 2015.

NIST National Vulnerability Database
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