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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-2014-0502

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 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
In the wild Public exploit 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
Double free vulnerability 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 remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in February 2014.

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

A double-free memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR allows remote attackers to free the same memory pointer twice, causing heap corruption that can be leveraged to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild in February 2014.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 11.7.700.269/12.0.0.70/11.2.202.341 or later, and Adobe AIR to version 4.0.0.1628 or later, on all affected platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android).

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:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.5
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 6.5
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:< 11.7.700.269>= 11.8.800.94, < 12.0.0.70< 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
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. Check Adobe Flash Player version on Windows or Mac
    Open a web browser, right-click on Flash content, select 'About Adobe Flash Player' or navigate to About Flash Player page. On Windows also check: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\flash.ocx properties, or use registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion
    Affected if Version is below 11.7.700.269, OR between 11.8.800.94 and 12.0.0.70 (exclusive), OR below 11.2.202.341 on Linux
  2. Check Adobe Flash Player version on Linux
    Run command: rpm -q flash-plugin OR check file version in /usr/lib/flash-plugin/ with: ls -la /usr/lib/flash-plugin/ and review version string in plugin files
    Affected if Version is below 11.2.202.341
  3. Check Adobe AIR version on Windows or Mac
    On Windows, check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe AIR or look at Add/Remove Programs. On Mac, check /Applications/Adobe AIR Application Installer.app contents for version info
    Affected if Version is below 4.0.0.1628
  4. Check Adobe AIR SDK version
    If using AIR SDK for development, check the AIR SDK version file typically found in the SDK directory (version.xml or similar) or run: air-sdk-version command if available
    Affected if SDK version is below 4.0.0.1628

The environment is affected if Adobe Flash Player version is below 11.7.700.269 (Windows/Mac 11.7.x), below 12.0.0.70 (Windows/Mac 12.x), below 11.2.202.341 (Linux), or Adobe AIR/SDK version 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 version 11.7.700.269/12.0.0.70/11.2.202.341 or later, and Adobe AIR to version 4.0.0.1628 or later, on all affected platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android).

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Flash Player 11.7.700.269 / 12.0.0.70 / 11.2.202.341; Adobe AIR 4.0.0.1628

  1. Identify which Adobe product is installed: Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Adobe AIR SDK
  2. Check the current version of the installed Adobe product
  3. For Flash Player on Windows/Mac: Upgrade to 11.7.700.269 (for 11.7.x branch) or 12.0.0.70 (for 11.8.x-12.x branch)
  4. For Flash Player on Linux: Upgrade to 11.2.202.341 or later
  5. For Adobe AIR (Android): Upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 or later
  6. For Adobe AIR SDK: Upgrade to 4.0.0.1628 or later
  7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed releases
  8. Ensure all browsers with Flash plugins are restarted after the update
Caveat This is a critical security patch for an actively exploited vulnerability - should be applied immediately with minimal risk

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,780
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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-2014-0502 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