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Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-5561

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-2015-5559, 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 remote attackers to execute arbitrary code. Affects Flash Player versions before 18.0.0.232 (Windows/OS X) and 11.2.202.508 (Linux), and AIR versions before 18.0.0.199. This is a memory corruption flaw where freed memory is accessed after deallocation, enabling code execution.

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+. Given Flash Player end-of-life, organizations should consider removing Flash entirely rather than patching.

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:<= 18.0.0.209<= 11.2.202.491
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. Check Flash Player version on Windows
    Open Command Prompt and run: wmic product where "name like 'Adobe Flash Player%'" get version, name. Alternatively, check the DLL file at C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\Flash*.ocx and view its Properties > Details to see the File Version.
    Affected if Version is 18.0.0.209 or earlier on Windows, or 11.2.202.491 or earlier on Linux.
  2. Check Flash Player version in browsers
    In Firefox, navigate to about:flash. In Chrome, open chrome://components/ and look for Adobe Flash Player. The version will be displayed.
    Affected if Version displayed is 18.0.0.209 or earlier (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.491 or earlier (Linux).
  3. Check Adobe AIR version on Windows
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run: wmic product where "name like 'Adobe AIR%'" get version, name. Alternatively, check the file version of C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Adobe AIR.dll
    Affected if Version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier.
  4. Check Adobe AIR SDK version
    If Adobe AIR SDK or Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler is installed, open the AIR SDK descriptor file (typically in the SDK root directory) or run: adt -version if the AIR Developer Tool is available. Check the SDK version metadata.
    Affected if SDK version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier.

A system is affected if Adobe Flash Player version is 18.0.0.209 or earlier (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.491 or earlier (Linux), or Adobe AIR/SDK version is 18.0.0.180 or earlier.

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+. Given Flash Player end-of-life, organizations should consider removing Flash entirely rather than patching.

Recommended fix High confidence

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

  1. For Flash Player (Windows/OS X): Navigate to https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and download version 18.0.0.232 or later
  2. For Flash Player (Linux): Download version 11.2.202.508 or later from your distribution's package manager or Adobe's Linux repository
  3. For Adobe AIR: Uninstall the current version, then download and install version 18.0.0.199 or later from https://get.adobe.com/air/
  4. For Adobe AIR SDK: Download version 18.0.0.199 or later from https://sdk.an etc.com/devnet-tools/airsdk.html and update your development environment
  5. For Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler: Download version 18.0.0.199 or later and update your build tools
  6. Restart any browsers or applications that use Flash Player after the update
  7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed version (18.0.0.232 for Flash Player on Windows/OS X, 11.2.202.508 for Linux, 18.0.0.199 for AIR)

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
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2015-5561 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