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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2014-0517

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-05-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.2.202.359 / 13.0.0.111 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.214 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.359 on Linux, Adobe AIR SDK before 13.0.0.111, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 13.0.0.111 allow attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-0518, CVE-2014-0519, and CVE-2014-0520.

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 · moderate confidence

Adobe Flash Player and AIR SDK contain a security bypass vulnerability that allows attackers to circumvent intended access restrictions. The vulnerability affects specific versions prior to 13.0.0.214 (Flash Player on Windows/OS X), 11.2.202.359 (Flash Player on Linux), and 13.0.0.111 (AIR SDK). The specific attack vectors are not detailed in the advisory.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.214 or later (Windows/OS X) / 11.2.202.359 or later (Linux), and Adobe AIR SDK to 13.0.0.111 or later. Remove or disable Flash Player where possible given its end-of-life status.

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:>= 13.0, < 13.0.0.214>= 11.0, < 11.2.202.359
Adobe AirApplication
Affected:< 13.0.0.111

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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

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

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 Adobe Flash Player version on Windows
    Open a web browser and navigate to any Flash-based content, then right-click and select 'About Adobe Flash Player', or open Control Panel and look for 'Programs and Features' to find the installed Flash version
    Affected if The version listed is 13.0.x (where x is less than 214) or 11.0.x through 11.2.202.358 on Windows
  2. Identify installed Adobe Flash Player version on macOS
    Open a web browser and navigate to any Flash-based content, then right-click and select 'About Adobe Flash Player', or check the Applications folder for Flash Player installer versions
    Affected if The version listed is 13.0.x (where x is less than 214) or 11.0.x through 11.2.202.358 on macOS
  3. Identify installed Adobe Flash Player version on Linux
    Open a web browser with Flash support and navigate to any Flash content, then right-click and select 'About Adobe Flash Player', or run 'rpm -q flash-plugin' or 'dpkg -l' commands depending on your package manager
    Affected if The version listed is between 11.0 and 11.2.202.358 inclusive on Linux
  4. Identify installed Adobe AIR version
    Check your system for Adobe AIR installation - on Windows look in 'Programs and Features', on macOS check the Applications folder, or run 'air -version' from command line if AIR SDK is installed
    Affected if The version is less than 13.0.0.111 or the version cannot be determined but AIR is present on a system that has not been updated since 2014
  5. Check for active browser plugins
    In each installed web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari), navigate to the browser's plugin or add-on settings and verify if the Flash Player plugin is enabled or present
    Affected if Any browser shows Flash Player plugin enabled and the version falls within the affected ranges listed above

You are affected if Adobe Flash Player or AIR is installed and the detected version number falls within any of the vulnerable version ranges: Flash Player 13.0 through 13.0.0.213 on Windows/macOS, Flash Player 11.0 through 11.2.202.358 on Linux, or AIR versions below 13.0.0.111.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 11.2.202.359 / 13.0.0.111 / 13.0.0.214 or later
Fixed in 11.2.202.35913.0.0.11113.0.0.214
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.214 or later (Windows/OS X) / 11.2.202.359 or later (Linux), and Adobe AIR SDK to 13.0.0.111 or later. Remove or disable Flash Player where possible given its end-of-life status.

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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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-2014-0517 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