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Adobe Air SdkApplication · Adobe

CVE-2014-0540

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-08-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 14.0.0.137 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
Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.241 and 14.x before 14.0.0.176 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.400 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 14.0.0.178 on Windows and OS X and before 14.0.0.179 on Android, Adobe AIR SDK before 14.0.0.178, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 14.0.0.178 do not properly restrict discovery of memory addresses, which allows attackers to bypass the ASLR protection mechanism via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-0542, CVE-2014-0543, CVE-2014-0544, and CVE-2014-0545.

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

Adobe Flash Player and AIR fail to properly restrict discovery of memory addresses, allowing attackers to bypass ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) protection through unspecified vectors. This information disclosure vulnerability enables attackers to learn memory locations, facilitating exploitation of other memory corruption flaws.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches: upgrade Flash Player to 13.0.0.241/14.0.0.176 or later, and AIR to 14.0.0.178 or later. In enterprise environments, test for Flash-dependent application compatibility before broad deployment.

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
Adobe Air SdkApplication
Affected:<= 14.0.0.137= 13.0.0.83= 13.0.0.111= 14.0.0.110
Adobe AirApplication
Affected:<= 14.0.0.137= 13.0.0.83= 13.0.0.111= 14.0.0.110<= 14.0.0.110
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:<= 13.0.0.231= 13.0.0.182= 13.0.0.201= 13.0.0.206= 13.0.0.214= 13.0.0.223= 14.0.0.125= 14.0.0.145<= 11.2.202.394= 11.2.202.223= 11.2.202.228= 11.2.202.233

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 Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion (32-bit) or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion (64-bit). Note the Version value.
    Affected if The version listed is less than or equal to 13.0.0.231, equals 13.0.0.182/201/206/214/223, equals 14.0.0.125/145, is less than or equal to 11.2.202.394, or equals 11.2.202.223/228/233.
  2. Identify installed Flash Player version in browsers via About page
    In any web browser, navigate to a page that displays installed plugin information, or enter 'about:plugins' in the address bar (Firefox) or check Chrome's chrome://plugins page. Locate the Flash Player entry and note its version.
    Affected if The displayed version matches any of the affected Flash Player versions listed above.
  3. Identify Adobe AIR installation on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\AIR\Version. Note the Version value. Alternatively, check C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe AIR\Versions for folder names indicating installed versions.
    Affected if The version is <= 14.0.0.137, equals 13.0.0.83, equals 13.0.0.111, or equals 14.0.0.110.
  4. Identify Adobe AIR SDK version on development systems
    If Adobe AIR SDK is installed, check the version file or folder name in the SDK installation directory, typically under C:\Program Files\Adobe\AIR SDK or within the application's version metadata.
    Affected if The SDK version is <= 14.0.0.137, equals 13.0.0.83, equals 13.0.0.111, or equals 14.0.0.110.

You are affected if any installed Adobe Flash Player or Adobe AIR version matches the affected version list, enabling memory address disclosure that bypasses ASLR protection.

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 a release after 14.0.0.137
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches: upgrade Flash Player to 13.0.0.241/14.0.0.176 or later, and AIR to 14.0.0.178 or later. In enterprise environments, test for Flash-dependent application compatibility before broad deployment.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 13.0.0.241+ (13.x), 14.0.0.176+ (14.x), or 11.2.202.400+ (Linux); Adobe AIR 14.0.0.178+ (Windows/OS X), 14.0.0.179+ (Android); Adobe AIR SDK 14.0.0.178+

  1. 1. Identify which Adobe product is installed: Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Adobe AIR SDK. On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs or the version in the Flash Player About dialog (right-click on Flash content). On Linux, check the system package manager.
  2. 2. For Flash Player on Windows/OS X: If version is 13.x (e.g., 13.0.0.206 or lower), upgrade to 13.0.0.241 or later. If version is 14.x (e.g., 14.0.0.110 or lower), upgrade to 14.0.0.176 or later.
  3. 3. For Flash Player on Linux: Upgrade to version 11.2.202.400 or later.
  4. 4. For Adobe AIR on Windows/OS X: Upgrade to version 14.0.0.178 or later.
  5. 5. For Adobe AIR on Android: Upgrade to version 14.0.0.179 or later.
  6. 6. For Adobe AIR SDK and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler: Upgrade to version 14.0.0.178 or later.
  7. 7. Download the appropriate updated version from the official Adobe security bulletin: http://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb14-18.html
  8. 8. Close all browser windows and applications using Flash Player before running the installer.
Caveat Standard security update; should not introduce functional breaking changes, though testing of Flash-dependent applications is recommended

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

Fix this in Adobe Air Sdk Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2014-0540 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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