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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-5559

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
Use-after-free vulnerability 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-2015-5127, CVE-2015-5130, CVE-2015-5134, CVE-2015-5539, CVE-2015-5540, CVE-2015-5550, CVE-2015-5551, CVE-2015-5556, CVE-2015-5557, CVE-2015-5561, CVE-2015-5563, CVE-2015-5564, and CVE-2015-5565.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR allowing arbitrary code execution via unspecified vectors. Memory corruption occurs when the application attempts to access memory after it has been freed, enabling attackers to inject and execute malicious code.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to 18.0.0.232+ (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508+ (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 18.0.0.199+. Alternatively, retire Flash Player if no longer required, as Adobe End-of-Life was December 2020.

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

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 Adobe products
    Check system for Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Adobe AIR SDK installations. On Windows, inspect Program Files for Adobe folders, check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer and HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\AIR, or look for the Flash Player plugin in browser directories.
    Affected if Any of these products are present on the system
  2. Determine Adobe Flash Player version
    For browser plugin: Visit Adobe's version check page or enter 'about:flash' in Firefox address bar. For ActiveX (IE): Check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion. Compare the version number against 11.2.202.491 and 18.0.0.209.
    Affected if Version is 11.2.202.491 or earlier, OR version is 18.0.0.209 or earlier (but above 11.2.x)
  3. Determine Adobe AIR version
    Open Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, locate Adobe AIR entry and note the version. Alternatively, check registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AdobeAIR or inspect the version.properties file in the AIR installation directory.
    Affected if Version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier
  4. Determine Adobe AIR SDK version
    If Adobe AIR SDK or AIR SDK & Compiler is installed, locate the SDK installation directory and check the version.txt or AIR SDK readme file. Common paths include C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\AIR SDK or C:\AIR_SDK directory.
    Affected if SDK version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier

The environment is affected if Adobe Flash Player version is <= 11.2.202.491 or <= 18.0.0.209, OR if Adobe AIR/AIR SDK version is <= 18.0.0.180, and the affected component is actively used.

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 18.0.0.232+ (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.508+ (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 18.0.0.199+. Alternatively, retire Flash Player if no longer required, as Adobe End-of-Life was December 2020.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 18.0.0.232+ (Windows/OS X), Flash Player 11.2.202.508+ (Linux), AIR 18.0.0.199+

  1. Identify the installed Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to 'About Flash Player' or checking the version in add-ons
  2. For Windows and OS X: Download and install Flash Player version 18.0.0.232 or later from the Adobe website
  3. For Linux: Download and install Flash Player version 11.2.202.508 or later from the Adobe website
  4. For Adobe AIR: Download and install AIR version 18.0.0.199 or later from the Adobe website
  5. For Adobe AIR SDK or AIR SDK & Compiler: Download and install version 18.0.0.199 or later from the Adobe developer website
  6. Restart any affected browsers or applications after upgrading
  7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed version numbers
Caveat Adobe Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; consider migrating to HTML5-based alternatives

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

Fix this in Flash Player Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2015-5559 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