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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-5129

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-08-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.0.0.209 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
Heap-based buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.232 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.508 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 18.0.0.199, Adobe AIR SDK before 18.0.0.199, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 18.0.0.199 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5541.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player and AIR allowing remote arbitrary code execution. This was a zero-day vulnerability actively exploited in the wild, discovered during the 2015 Hacking Team leak.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.232 (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508 (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 18.0.0.199 or later. Since Flash is end-of-life, consider removing Flash Player entirely as the most complete remediation.

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:<= 11.2.202.491<= 18.0.0.209
AirApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.180
Air SdkApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.180
Air Sdk \& CompilerApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.180
EvergreenOperating system
Affected:= 11.4

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. Detect Adobe Flash Player installation and version on Windows
    Check the Flash Player version via registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion, or inspect the file properties of NPSWF32.dll in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\ (or C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\ for 64-bit). Also check browser plugins at about:addons in Firefox or chrome://extensions in Chrome.
    Affected if The installed version is 11.2.202.491 or earlier, OR any version 18.0.0.209 or earlier.
  2. Detect Adobe Flash Player installation and version on Linux
    Check for libflashplayer.so in /usr/lib/flash-plugin/, /usr/lib/browser-plugins/, or /opt/flashplayer/lib/, then run 'rpm -q flash-plugin' or 'dpkg -l flashplugin-installer' to get the version number.
    Affected if The installed version is 11.2.202.491 or earlier.
  3. Detect Adobe AIR installation and version
    On Windows, check the version in Add/Remove Programs, or inspect the version of AIR Application Installer.exe in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\. On Mac, check /Applications/Adobe AIR Installer.app.
    Affected if The installed version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier.
  4. Detect Adobe AIR SDK or AIR SDK & Compiler installation
    Check for the AIR SDK directory, typically found under C:\Program Files\Adobe\AIR SDK\ or within an IDE like Flash Builder or Animate. Look for aairsdk.txt or version.xml within the SDK folder to identify the version number.
    Affected if The installed AIR SDK or AIR SDK & Compiler version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier.
  5. Check for OpenSUSE Evergreen 11.4 with Flash
    Run 'cat /etc/SuSE-release' or 'lsb_release -a' to confirm the OS version. If running OpenSUSE 11.4, check if Flash Player is installed via 'rpm -q flash-player' or by locating the npwrapper.libflashplayer.so plugin.
    Affected if The system is OpenSUSE Evergreen 11.4 with Adobe Flash Player installed.

A user is affected if Adobe Flash Player version 11.2.202.491 or earlier, or 18.0.0.209 or earlier is installed; OR if Adobe AIR, AIR SDK, or AIR SDK & Compiler version 18.0.0.180 or earlier is installed; OR if running OpenSUSE 11.4 with any vulnerable Flash version.

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 18.0.0.209
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.232 (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508 (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 18.0.0.199 or later. Since Flash is end-of-life, consider removing Flash Player entirely as the most complete remediation.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 18.0.0.232 (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508 (Linux); Adobe AIR/AIR SDK/AIR SDK & Compiler 18.0.0.199

  1. 1. Identify the installed Adobe Flash Player, AIR, or AIR SDK version by checking the program's version information in the system settings or control panel
  2. 2. For Flash Player: Download the fixed version 18.0.0.232 (for Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508 (for Linux) from the official Adobe security bulletin at https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-19.html
  3. 3. For Adobe AIR: Download version 18.0.0.199 or later from the Adobe security bulletin
  4. 4. For Adobe AIR SDK or AIR SDK & Compiler: Download version 18.0.0.199 or later from the Adobe security bulletin
  5. 5. Uninstall the current vulnerable version through the system's program removal mechanism
  6. 6. Restart the browser or application that uses Flash Player/AIR
  7. 7. Install the downloaded fixed version
  8. 8. Verify the installed version matches the fixed release numbers specified in the security bulletin
Caveat Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; consider migrating away from Flash-based content as Adobe no longer supports it

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

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
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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-2015-5129 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