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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2014-0498

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-02-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 / 11.2.202.341 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 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
Stack-based buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player before 11.7.700.269 and 11.8.x through 12.0.x before 12.0.0.70 on Windows and Mac OS X and before 11.2.202.341 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 4.0.0.1628 on Android, Adobe AIR SDK before 4.0.0.1628, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 4.0.0.1628 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

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

Stack-based buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR allowing arbitrary code execution via unspecified vectors. Affected versions include Flash Player prior to 11.7.700.269/11.2.202.341 (Windows/Mac/Linux), 12.x prior to 12.0.0.70, and AIR prior to 4.0.0.1628.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to 11.7.700.269 (Windows/Mac) or 11.2.202.341 (Linux), or 12.0.0.70 for version 12.x; update Adobe AIR to 4.0.0.1628 or later across all affected systems.

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
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:>= 11.0, < 11.7.700.269>= 11.8, < 11.8.800.175>= 11.9, < 12.0.0.70>= 11.0, < 11.2.202.341
Adobe Air SdkApplication
Affected:< 4.0.0.1628
Adobe AirApplication
Affected:< 4.0.0.1628

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Identify installed Flash Player version in Windows browsers
    Open the Windows Registry Editor (regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion. The version string is stored in the 'Version' value.
    Affected if The version string is earlier than 11.7.700.269 (for 11.x branches), earlier than 11.8.800.175 (for 11.8.x), earlier than 12.0.0.70 (for 12.x), or earlier than 11.2.202.341 (for the 11.2.x branch).
  2. Identify installed Flash Player version in Linux systems
    Open a terminal and run 'rpm -q flash-player' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i flash' depending on the package manager used. Alternatively, check the version of the libflashplayer.so file in the browser plugin directory (typically /usr/lib/flash-plugin/ or /usr/share/adobe-flashplugin/).
    Affected if The reported version is earlier than 11.7.700.269, earlier than 11.8.800.175, earlier than 12.0.0.70, or earlier than 11.2.202.341 (Linux-specific branch).
  3. Identify Adobe AIR version on the system
    On Windows, check the version of the AIR application by locating the AIR runtime installation folder (commonly C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0 or similar) and examining the version information of the Adobe AIR application file. On Mac, check /Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/AIR or the application's Info.plist.
    Affected if The AIR runtime version is earlier than 4.0.0.1628 or the version cannot be determined and the application targets an older AIR SDK.
  4. Identify Adobe AIR SDK version used for development
    For AIR applications, locate the application descriptor file (app.xml) which contains an xmlns attribute indicating the AIR SDK version used, such as <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.0">. Check the AIR SDK installation directory for a version file or the SDK's readme/release notes.
    Affected if The AIR SDK version specified in the application descriptor or the installed SDK is earlier than 4.0.0.1628.

A system is affected if Adobe Flash Player version is below 11.7.700.269 (Windows/Mac), below 11.2.202.341 (Linux), below 11.8.800.175 (11.8.x branch), below 12.0.0.70 (12.x branch), or if Adobe AIR/SDK is below 4.0.0.1628.

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 4.0.0.1628 / 11.2.202.341 / 11.7.700.269 or later
Fixed in 4.0.0.162811.2.202.34111.7.700.269
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to 11.7.700.269 (Windows/Mac) or 11.2.202.341 (Linux), or 12.0.0.70 for version 12.x; update Adobe AIR to 4.0.0.1628 or later across all affected systems.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 12.0.0.70 (or 11.7.700.269/11.8.800.175/11.2.202.341 depending on branch); Adobe AIR 4.0.0.1628; Adobe AIR SDK 4.0.0.1628

  1. Identify the exact Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Adobe AIR SDK version currently installed
  2. For Windows/Mac Flash Player 11.0-11.6.x: upgrade to 11.7.700.269 or later
  3. For Windows/Mac Flash Player 11.8.x: upgrade to 11.8.800.175 or later
  4. For Windows/Mac Flash Player 11.9.x-12.0.x: upgrade to 12.0.0.70 or later
  5. For Linux Flash Player 11.x: upgrade to 11.2.202.341 or later
  6. For Adobe AIR on Android: upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 or later
  7. For Adobe AIR SDK: upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 or later
  8. For Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler: upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 or later
Caveat Adobe Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; consider migrating away from Flash-based content as no further updates will be available

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

Fix this in Flash Player Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2014-0498 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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