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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-3136

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-07-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.0.0.144 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
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.302 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.203 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.481 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 18.0.0.180, Adobe AIR SDK before 18.0.0.180, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 18.0.0.180 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-3118, CVE-2015-3124, CVE-2015-3127, CVE-2015-3128, CVE-2015-3129, CVE-2015-3131, CVE-2015-3132, CVE-2015-3137, CVE-2015-4428, CVE-2015-4430, and CVE-2015-5117.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors. The flaw exists in the memory management of the affected software versions.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.302 (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.481 (Linux), or version 18.0.0.203 for 14.x-18.x branches. Update Adobe AIR and AIR SDK to version 18.0.0.180 or later. Note: Adobe Flash Player reached end-of-life in December 2020; organizations should consider removing it entirely and migrating to HTML5 alternatives.

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:<= 13.0.0.289= 14.0.0.125= 14.0.0.145= 14.0.0.176= 14.0.0.179= 15.0.0.152= 15.0.0.167= 15.0.0.189= 15.0.0.223= 15.0.0.239= 15.0.0.246= 16.0.0.235
AirApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.144
Air SdkApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.144
Air Sdk \& CompilerApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.144

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. Check Adobe Flash Player version on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion, or check the file version of Flash32_*.ocx in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\
    Affected if The version is 13.0.0.289 or earlier, OR equals 14.0.0.125, 14.0.0.145, 14.0.0.176, 14.0.0.179, 15.0.0.152, 15.0.0.167, 15.0.0.189, 15.0.0.223, 15.0.0.239, 15.0.0.246, or 16.0.0.235
  2. Check Adobe Flash Player version on macOS
    Navigate to /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player/ and locate the install_flash_player_osx.app or check the version via the Flash Player About panel in a browser
    Affected if The version matches any of the affected versions listed in the Windows check
  3. Check Adobe AIR version on Windows
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\AIR\Versions, or check the file version of AIRapp.exe or runtime.msi in the AIR installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe AIR\)
    Affected if The version is 18.0.0.144 or earlier, or any version listed as <= 18.0.0.144
  4. Check Adobe AIR SDK version
    Locate the AIR SDK installation directory and check the version in the SDKVersion.xml file or the readme.txt file included with the SDK
    Affected if The SDK version is 18.0.0.144 or earlier
  5. Check for browser plugin presence
    In Internet Explorer, go to Manage Add-ons and look for Shockwave Flash Object; in Chrome, navigate to chrome://plugins and locate Flash; in Firefox, go to Add-ons > Plugins
    Affected if Any Adobe Flash Player plugin matching the affected versions is listed as installed and enabled

If any installed Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Adobe AIR SDK version matches the specific versions listed or falls within the <= 13.0.0.289 or <= 18.0.0.144 ranges, the environment is affected by this CVE.

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 18.0.0.144
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 13.0.0.302 (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.481 (Linux), or version 18.0.0.203 for 14.x-18.x branches. Update Adobe AIR and AIR SDK to version 18.0.0.180 or later. Note: Adobe Flash Player reached end-of-life in December 2020; organizations should consider removing it entirely and migrating to HTML5 alternatives.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 13.0.0.302 (or 18.0.0.203+) for Windows/OS X; Flash Player 11.2.202.481+ for Linux; Adobe AIR 18.0.0.180+; Adobe AIR SDK 18.0.0.180+; Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler 18.0.0.180+

  1. Check current Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to 'About Flash Player' in the right-click menu or visiting https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html
  2. Check current Adobe AIR version via Help > About Adobe AIR
  3. For Flash Player on Windows/OS X: Upgrade to version 13.0.0.302 OR version 18.0.0.203 or later
  4. For Flash Player on Linux: Upgrade to version 11.2.202.481 or later
  5. For Adobe AIR: Upgrade to version 18.0.0.180 or later
  6. For Adobe AIR SDK: Upgrade to version 18.0.0.180 or later
  7. For Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler: Upgrade to version 18.0.0.180 or later
  8. Download from official Adobe sources: https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and https://get.adobe.com/air/
Caveat Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; consider migrating away from Flash-based content

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

Fix this in Flash Player Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2015-3136 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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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data