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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 4 May 2022.
Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2014-9163

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-12-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.2.202.425 / 13.0.0.259 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild No privileges

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 13.0.0.259 and 14.x and 15.x before 15.0.0.246 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.425 on Linux allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in December 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 stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors. The flaw affects multiple version branches (13.x, 14.x, 15.x) across Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms. This was actively exploited in the wild in December 2014.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.259 or later (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.425 or later (Linux) to remediate this vulnerability.

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, < 13.0.0.259>= 14.0, <= 14.0.0.179>= 15.0, < 15.0.0.246>= 11.0, < 11.2.202.425

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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. Identify installed Adobe Flash Player version
    Check the Flash Player version through the browser (visit Adobe's version check page) or check the DLL/plugin file directly: Windows: npflash32.dll or Flash32_Version.ocx in System32 or browser plugins folder; Mac OS X: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Info.plist or browser plugin; Linux: /usr/lib/flash-plugin/libflashplayer.so or /usr/lib64/flash-plugin/libflashplayer.so
    Affected if The displayed version number is blank, unrecognized, or cannot be determined (indicating a possible vulnerable or remnant installation)
  2. Compare version against affected ranges
    Parse the installed version number (format: XX.x.x.x) and compare against all four affected ranges: 13.0.0.0 through 13.0.0.258, 14.0.0.0 through 14.0.0.179, 15.0.0.0 through 15.0.0.245, and 11.0.0.0 through 11.2.202.424
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: >= 13.0 and < 13.0.0.259, OR >= 14.0 and <= 14.0.0.179, OR >= 15.0 and < 15.0.0.246, OR >= 11.0 and < 11.2.202.425
  3. Verify Flash Player is enabled in browsers
    Check browser plugin settings (chrome://plugins in Chrome, Add-ons > Plugins in Firefox, Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer) to confirm the Flash Player plugin is active and loaded
    Affected if Flash Player plugin is enabled and the version from step 2 is within the affected ranges identified in step 1

A system is affected if Adobe Flash Player is installed and enabled with a version matching any of the four vulnerable ranges (13.x before 13.0.0.259, 14.x through 14.0.0.179, 15.x before 15.0.0.246, or 11.x before 11.2.202.425).

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 11.2.202.425 / 13.0.0.259 / 15.0.0.246 or later
Fixed in 11.2.202.42513.0.0.25915.0.0.246
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.259 or later (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.425 or later (Linux) to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 13.0.0.259 (13.x), 14.0.0.179 (14.x), 15.0.0.246 (15.x), or 11.2.202.425 (Linux 11.x)

  1. 1. Identify the installed Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html in the browser
  2. 2. Uninstall the current version of Adobe Flash Player from the system via Control Panel > Programs and Features (Windows) or manual removal (macOS/Linux)
  3. 3. Download the fixed version from the official Adobe repository: for 13.x use 13.0.0.259, for 14.x use 14.0.0.179 (or migrate to 15.x), for 15.x use 15.0.0.246, for 11.x Linux use 11.2.202.425
  4. 4. Install the fixed Flash Player version
  5. 5. Verify the installation by checking the version again at the Adobe help page
  6. 6. Consider migrating away from Flash Player entirely as Adobe ended support on December 31, 2020 - identify Flash-dependent applications and plan migration to HTML5 or alternative technologies
Caveat Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; upgrading to legacy fixed versions provides temporary security but leaves systems on unsupported software; long-term migration to HTML5 or alternative technologies is strongly recommended

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

Fix this in Flash Player Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2014-9163 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