Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.643 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in October 2016.

CheckOps priority index

6.7/10 Patch within 7 days

Severity8.8

Probability2.5

Exploitation4/5

Severity = CVSS. Probability = EPSS (FIRST). Exploitation = public signals: KEV, EUVD, ransomware, EPSS above 10 %, no account required.

EPSS · today 25.2% higher than 97.9% of CVEs

CVSS 3.1 8.8 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:

Exploited for 1,706 days 03 Mar 2022

CISA due date 24 Mar 2022 for US federal agencies

Exploitation probability EPSS · FIRST

EPSS probability (%)Percentile among all CVEs

Exploitation signals 4 / 5

KEV catalog (CISA)03 Mar 2022
Exploited in EUVD (ENISA)03 Mar 2022
Used by ransomwareno
EPSS above 10 %25.2%
No account, over the networkyes

What to do

Fix

Apply the vendor’s fix as soon as it is available.

CISA guidance: The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.

Meanwhile

Take the service off the internet or restrict access to it, watch the logs and look for signs of compromise.

Manufacturers (CRA)

Exploited vulnerability in your product: early warning to ENISA within 24 h, then notification within 72 h (Article 14 of the Cyber Resilience Act). The CRA explained

Affected products

Flash Player

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-416

Open source packages OSV

Affected libraries according to OSV, with fixed versions.

Timeline

01 Nov 2016
Published
03 Mar 2022
Exploitation reported (ENISA)
03 Mar 2022
Added to the KEV catalog
24 Mar 2022
CISA remediation due date
26 Sept 2026
EPSS peak: 25.2%

References

Other exploited vulnerabilities from the same vendor

CVE-2026-48356Adobe Commerce and Magento Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type Vulnerability
7.5 · Rising fast
CVE-2026-71362Adobe Commerce and Magento Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability
8.8 · Actively exploited
CVE-2026-75650Adobe Commerce and Magento Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine Vulnerability
5.9 · Actively exploited
CVE-2026-48282Adobe ColdFusion Path Traversal Vulnerability
7.7 · Actively exploited
CVE-2009-3459Adobe Acrobat and Reader Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
8.5 · Actively exploited
CVE-2026-34621Adobe Acrobat and Reader Prototype Pollution Vulnerability
4.9 · Background exploitation