Critical Flash Player leak to be plugged on Thursday

Posted on Wednesday, April 06 2016 @ 13:32 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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Adobe gives advance warning that it's planning to release a critical security update for Flash tomorrow. The bug potentially allows attackers to take remote control of affected systems. Attackers are actively exploiting the bug on systems running Windows 7 and XP in combination with Flash Player version 20.0.0.306. Users running Flash Player 21.0.0.182 or later should be safer as this version introduced a mitigation technique but a real fix isn't expected until Thursday at the earliest.
A critical vulnerability (CVE-2016-1019) exists in Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Chrome OS. Successful exploitation could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

Adobe is aware of reports that CVE-2016-1019 is being actively exploited on systems running Windows 7 and Windows XP with Flash Player version 20.0.0.306 and earlier. A mitigation introduced in Flash Player 21.0.0.182 currently prevents exploitation of this vulnerability, protecting users running Flash Player 21.0.0.182 and later.

Adobe is planning to provide a security update to address this vulnerability as early as April 7.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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