Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2016-0959: Adobe Flash Player: Use after free

CVE-2016-0959 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Adobe Flash Player. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

Use after free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime before 20.0.0.267, Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release before 18.0.0.324, Adobe Flash Player for Google Chrome before 20.0.0.267, Adobe Flash Player for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 before 20.0.0.267, Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer 10 and 11 before 20.0.0.267, Adobe Flash Player for Linux before 11.2.202.559, AIR Desktop Runtime before 20.0.0.233, AIR SDK before 20.0.0.233, AIR SDK & Compiler before 20.0.0.233, AIR for Android before 20.0.0.233.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-416: Use After Free

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Affected products

  • Adobe Flash Player: up to and including 20.0.0.235; up to and including 20.0.0.228
  • Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release: up to and including 18.0.0.268
  • Adobe Flash Player For Linux: up to and including 11.2.202.554
  • Adobe Air: up to and including 20.0.0.204
  • Adobe Air Sdk & Compiler: up to and including 20.0.0.204
  • Adobe Air Sdk: up to and including 20.0.0.204

References