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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 8 Oct 2024.
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2013-0643

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-02-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.3.183.67 / 11.2.202.273 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Firefox sandbox in Adobe Flash Player before 10.3.183.67 and 11.x before 11.6.602.171 on Windows and Mac OS X, and before 10.3.183.67 and 11.x before 11.2.202.273 on Linux, does not properly restrict privileges, which makes it easier for remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted SWF content, as exploited in the wild in February 2013.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

This is a sandbox bypass vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player's Firefox sandbox implementation on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The sandbox fails to properly restrict privileges, allowing specially crafted SWF content to escape the sandbox containment and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild in February 2013.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Flash Player to version 10.3.183.67 or later for the 10.x branch, 11.6.602.171 or later for 11.x on Windows/Mac, or 11.2.202.273 or later for Linux. Alternatively, remove or disable the Flash Player browser plugin until patching is feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 5.9= 6.4
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 5.9= 6.4
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:< 10.3.183.67>= 11.0, < 11.6.602.171>= 11.0, < 11.2.202.273
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.4= 12.1
Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 10= 11

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Adobe Flash Player is installed in the browser
    Open Firefox and navigate to 'about:plugins' or check 'Add-ons > Plugins' in Firefox to see if Flash Player is listed
    Affected if Adobe Flash Player is present in Firefox
  2. Identify the installed Flash Player version
    On the Firefox 'about:plugins' page, locate the Flash Player plugin and note the version number displayed
    Affected if The version is < 10.3.183.67 OR (>= 11.0.0 AND < 11.6.602.171 on Windows/Mac) OR (>= 11.0.0 AND < 11.2.202.273 on Linux)
  3. Confirm the Firefox sandbox configuration for Flash
    In Firefox, type 'about:config' in the address bar, then search for 'security.sandbox.content.level' or check if 'FlashPlayerSandbox' security setting is enabled
    Affected if The sandbox is not properly enforcing restrictions (level is lower than default or plugin-specific sandbox is disabled)
  4. Check the operating system
    Run 'uname -a' or check system information to identify if the OS is Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux
    Affected if Running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux with a vulnerable Flash version and Firefox browser

The environment is affected if Adobe Flash Player is installed in Firefox with a version less than 10.3.183.67, or 11.x versions below 11.6.602.171 (Windows/Mac) or below 11.2.202.273 (Linux) on a vulnerable OS.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.3.183.67 / 11.2.202.273 / 11.6.602.171 or later
Fixed in 10.3.183.6711.2.202.27311.6.602.171
Vendor patch www.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Adobe Flash Player to version 10.3.183.67 or later for the 10.x branch, 11.6.602.171 or later for 11.x on Windows/Mac, or 11.2.202.273 or later for Linux. Alternatively, remove or disable the Flash Player browser plugin until patching is feasible.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.67, 11.6.602.171 (Windows/Mac), or 11.2.202.273 (Linux)

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to the Adobe Flash Player test page at https://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
  2. 2. For Linux systems: Remove the existing Flash Player package using the package manager (e.g., 'rpm -e flash-plugin' or 'yum remove flash-plugin' on RHEL/CentOS)
  3. 3. For Linux systems: If upgrading, download and install the fixed version 11.2.202.273 from Adobe's archived repositories or your distribution's security updates
  4. 4. For Windows/Mac systems: Remove existing Flash Player and install the fixed version 10.3.183.67 or 11.6.602.171 from Adobe's archived downloads
  5. 5. Verify the new version is installed correctly by checking the Flash Player version again
  6. 6. Consider uninstalling Flash Player entirely as it reached End of Life on December 31, 2020 and no longer receives security updates
Caveat Flash Player is deprecated and reached End of Life on December 31, 2020; no further security updates are available; consider migrating away from Flash-based content

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-0643 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data