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AirApplication · Adobe

CVE-2015-5578

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
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
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 execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5575, CVE-2015-5577, CVE-2015-5580, CVE-2015-5582, CVE-2015-5588, and CVE-2015-6677.

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

Memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR allowing remote code execution or denial of service. The vulnerability exists in unspecified vectors affecting multiple versions across Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms prior to the patched releases.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.241/19.0.0.185 or later (11.2.202.521 for Linux), and Adobe AIR/AIR SDK to 19.0.0.190 or later across all affected systems.

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
AirApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.143<= 18.0.0.199
AndroidOperating system
Affected:all versions
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
Air SdkApplication
Affected:<= 18.0.0.199
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 Flash Player version
    Open a web browser and navigate to 'about:flash' (Chrome/Edge) or check Help > About in Flash-based content. On Windows, also check the file version of 'Flash32_XX_0_0_XXX.ocx' in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\
    Affected if The version is 11.2.202.508 or earlier on 11.x, 13.0.0.289 or earlier on 13.x, any of 14.0.0.125/145/176/179, or any of 15.0.0.152/167/189/223/239/246 on 15.x
  2. Identify installed Adobe AIR version
    On Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for 'Adobe AIR' in the list to see the version. On macOS, check /Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ or use 'Adobe AIR Application Installer' --version in terminal
    Affected if The version is 18.0.0.143 or earlier, or between 18.0.0.144 and 18.0.0.199 inclusive
  3. Identify installed Adobe AIR SDK version
    Check the SDK version by opening the SDK directory (commonly at C:\Program Files\Adobe\AIR_SDK or /Applications/AdobeAIRSDK) and reading the 'readme.txt' or 'version.xml' file, or run 'adl -version' from the bin folder
    Affected if The SDK version is 18.0.0.199 or earlier for the SDK, or 18.0.0.180 or earlier for the SDK & Compiler package
  4. Check for Adobe Flash Player on Google Android
    On Android devices, go to Settings > Apps > Adobe Flash Player (or Settings > Application Manager > Adobe Flash Player on older versions) to view the installed version
    Affected if Any version of Adobe Flash Player installed on Android, since all versions are affected

You are affected if any Adobe Flash Player, AIR, or AIR SDK installation on your systems matches the version numbers or ranges listed above.

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 18.0.0.199
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 18.0.0.241/19.0.0.185 or later (11.2.202.521 for Linux), and Adobe AIR/AIR SDK to 19.0.0.190 or later across all affected systems.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Flash Player 18.0.0.241 / 19.0.0.185 or later; Adobe AIR 19.0.0.190 or later; Adobe AIR SDK 19.0.0.190 or later

  1. 1. Identify the installed Adobe Flash Player version by navigating to 'About Flash Player' in the right-click menu or visiting the Adobe version check page.
  2. 2. Identify the installed Adobe AIR version from the application's properties or add/remove programs.
  3. 3. Download Adobe Flash Player version 18.0.0.241 or 19.0.0.185 (or later) from the official Adobe Security Bulletin APSB15-23: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-23.html
  4. 4. Download Adobe AIR version 19.0.0.190 (or later) from the same Adobe security bulletin page if AIR is installed.
  5. 5. Uninstall existing Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR installations completely.
  6. 6. Install the downloaded fixed versions of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR.
  7. 7. Restart any affected browsers and verify the version numbers match the fixed releases.
Caveat Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020; consider migrating away from Flash-based applications entirely as modern browsers have removed Flash support

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

Fix this in Air Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2015-5578 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