Flash PlayerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-5568

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-09-22

Fix available

A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.0.0.199 or later.

See remediation →

100/100

Remediation priority · Urgent

Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description

NVD · unedited

Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.241 and 19.x before 19.0.0.185 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.521 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 19.0.0.190, Adobe AIR SDK before 19.0.0.190, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 19.0.0.190 allow attackers to cause a denial of service (vector-length corruption) or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.

Technical summary

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Adobe Flash Player and AIR contain a memory corruption vulnerability allowing attackers to corrupt vector-length data structures, causing denial of service or potentially other unspecified impact via unknown attack vectors.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.241/19.0.0.185 or later (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.521+ (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 19.0.0.190 or later. Alternatively, remove Flash Player entirely as it reached end-of-life in 2020.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions

NVD · CPE data

Flash PlayerApplication

Affected:<= 11.2.202.508<= 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

AirApplication

Affected:<= 18.0.0.199<= 18.0.0.143

Air SdkApplication

Affected:<= 18.0.0.199

Air Sdk \& CompilerApplication

Affected:<= 18.0.0.180

AndroidOperating system

Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown

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?

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

Identify installed Adobe Flash Player version on Windows

Check the Flash Player version by viewing the file properties of NPSWF32.dll in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\, or run 'Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Version' in PowerShell

Affected if The installed version is <= 11.2.202.508, <= 13.0.0.289, or any of 14.0.0.125/145/176/179, 15.0.0.152/167/189/223/239/246
Identify installed Adobe Flash Player version on Mac

Locate /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player/ and check the version file, or inspect the browser plugin via 'About' dialog in Safari or Firefox

Affected if The installed version matches the same affected versions listed for Windows (11.2.x <= 202.508, 13.x <= 0.289, 14.x any, 15.x <= 246)
Identify installed Adobe AIR version

On Windows check Add/Remove Programs or the AIR version via C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe AIR\Versions\*\Adobe AIR.dll file properties; on Mac check /Applications/Adobe AIR Installer.app contents

Affected if The AIR version is <= 18.0.0.199 or <= 18.0.0.143 (depending on the specific release line)
Identify Adobe AIR SDK version

Check the AIR SDK version file in the SDK installation directory (typically named VERSION or version.properties), or run 'air -version' from command line if SDK is installed

Affected if The AIR SDK version is <= 18.0.0.199, or AIR SDK & Compiler is <= 18.0.0.180
Check for Flash Player on Google Android

Verify if Adobe Flash Player is installed on Android device via Settings > Apps (Flash was available for Android 2.x-4.x via APK from 2012-2014)

Affected if Any version of Adobe Flash Player for Android is present, as all Android versions are affected

If Adobe Flash Player, AIR, AIR SDK, or Flash for Android is present and its version falls within or below the affected ranges listed, the system is vulnerable to this memory corruption flaw.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Remediation

dbcve · scoped

Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 18.0.0.199

Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →

Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.241/19.0.0.185 or later (Windows/OS X) or 11.2.202.521+ (Linux), and Adobe AIR to 19.0.0.190 or later. Alternatively, remove Flash Player entirely as it reached end-of-life in 2020.

Recommended fix High confidence

Flash Player 18.0.0.241+ / 19.0.0.185+ / 11.2.202.521+ (Linux); Adobe AIR 19.0.0.190+; Adobe AIR SDK 19.0.0.190+

1. Identify the installed Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html and checking the version displayed, or by opening Flash Player in browser settings
2. For Windows and OS X: Upgrade Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.241 or higher (or 19.0.0.185+ if using 19.x branch)
3. For Linux: Upgrade Adobe Flash Player to version 11.2.202.521 or higher
4. For Adobe AIR desktop applications: Upgrade to version 19.0.0.190 or higher
5. For Adobe AIR SDK users: Upgrade to version 19.0.0.190 or higher
6. For Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler users: Upgrade to version 19.0.0.190 or higher
7. For Android: Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported on Android; uninstall the application and consider alternative solutions such as HTML5-based content delivery
8. Verify successful installation by checking the Flash Player version again

Caveat Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; upgrading to legacy versions may have compatibility issues with modern browsers; some browser vendors have removed Flash Player support entirely

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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Scan for this in your stack

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References

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-5568 in production — separate from our analysis above.

Notes0 Guidelines

Know something about CVE-2015-5568?

The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.

The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
A config change or rule that shut the vector down
A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon

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

At a glance

A fix existsUpgrade to after 18.0.0.199 or later

Severity 10.0 High

Exploit likelihood EPSS, next 30 days 19.9%

Affects: Flash Player

Remediation

A high-priority fix

Fix this in Flash Player 5 hrs · Low

Typical engagement from $890

Get a fix See the full breakdown ↓

A high-priority vulnerability. Send your environment and a specialist will scope CVE-2015-5568 and return a fixed quote and timeline.

You’ll deal with our team directly and deploy the reviewed fix to staging first — never straight to production.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Check your environment

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.

Scan for this in your stack

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Practitioner notes

No notes yet

Official description

Technical summary

Affected products & versions

CVSS breakdown

Am I affected?

Remediation

References