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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 24 Mar 2022.
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2015-3043

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2015-04-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.2.202.457 / 13.0.0.281 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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 13.0.0.281 and 14.x through 17.x before 17.0.0.169 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.457 on Linux allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in April 2015, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-0347, CVE-2015-0350, CVE-2015-0352, CVE-2015-0353, CVE-2015-0354, CVE-2015-0355, CVE-2015-0360, CVE-2015-3038, CVE-2015-3041, and CVE-2015-3042.

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

Memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via unspecified vectors. Exploited in the wild in April 2015.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.281, 17.0.0.169 or later (Windows/OS X), or 11.2.202.457 or later (Linux). Remove Flash if unnecessary.

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:= 6.6
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 6.6
Enterprise Linux Server From RhuiOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:< 11.2.202.457< 13.0.0.281>= 14.0.0.125, < 17.0.0.169
Suse Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 11.0= 12.0

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Detect if Adobe Flash Player is installed
    Check for Flash in installed programs (Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or Linux package managers like rpm -qa | grep -i flash). Also check browser plugins: in Firefox go to about:addons > Plugins, in Chrome go to chrome://plugins.
    Affected if Adobe Flash Player is present on the system
  2. Identify the installed Flash version number
    On Windows, run: 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer"' or check the Flash file properties in the installation directory. On Linux, run: 'rpm -q flash-plugin' or check /usr/lib/flash-plugin/ for version info. In browsers, the version often displays in the plugin details.
    Affected if A version number is returned that can be compared against vulnerable ranges
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    The vulnerable version ranges are: any version < 11.2.202.457 (Linux), any version < 13.0.0.281 (Windows/OS X), or versions >= 14.0.0.125 and < 17.0.0.169. Check if your installed version falls into any of these ranges.
    Affected if Installed version is < 11.2.202.457 OR < 13.0.0.281 OR (>= 14.0.0.125 AND < 17.0.0.169)

The system is affected if Adobe Flash Player is installed and its version falls within any of the vulnerable ranges: before 11.2.202.457, before 13.0.0.281, or between 14.0.0.125 and 17.0.0.169.

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 11.2.202.457 / 13.0.0.281 / 17.0.0.169 or later
Fixed in 11.2.202.45713.0.0.28117.0.0.169
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.281, 17.0.0.169 or later (Windows/OS X), or 11.2.202.457 or later (Linux). Remove Flash if unnecessary.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop 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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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2015-3043 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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