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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022. Known ransomware use
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2018-4878

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-02-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 28.0.0.161 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit No privileges

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
A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161. This vulnerability occurs due to a dangling pointer in the Primetime SDK related to media player handling of listener objects. A successful attack can lead to arbitrary code execution. This was exploited in the wild in January and February 2018.

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

A use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player's Primetime SDK allows attackers to exploit a dangling pointer in the media player's listener object handling, leading to arbitrary code execution. This was actively exploited in the wild during January-February 2018.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Flash Player to version 28.0.0.161 or later. Given Adobe Flash reached end-of-life in December 2020, the recommended long-term remediation is to completely remove Flash Player from all 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
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Flash PlayerApplication
Affected:< 28.0.0.161

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Verify if Adobe Flash Player is present on the system
    On Linux, check for /usr/lib/flash-plugin/ directory, or look for libflashplayer.so in browser plugin directories (/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/, ~/.mozilla/plugins/). On Windows, check browser add-ons or C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\
    Affected if Flash Player is installed in any location, indicating the software is present and potentially vulnerable
  2. Determine the installed Flash Player version
    On Linux, run 'rpm -q flash-plugin' or check the version file in the plugin directory. On Windows, open the Flash configuration panel (run 'flasocpl.exe' in the Flash folder) or right-click a SWF file to view the player version. Alternatively, visit Adobe's version check page in a browser with Flash enabled.
    Affected if The returned version number is lower than 28.0.0.161 (for example, 28.0.0.137, 27.x.x.x, or any version starting with a lower major/minor number)
  3. Confirm the Primetime SDK component is in use
    This vulnerability affects the Primetime SDK media handling. Check if any applications use Adobe Primetime for DRM-protected video playback. This is typically found in enterprise video streaming setups or specific media applications. On Linux, grep for 'primetime' or 'rtmpd' in installed packages.
    Affected if Primetime SDK or related media handling components are present, meaning the vulnerable code path could be triggered
  4. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 systems specifically
    If running RHEL 6.0 desktop, server, or workstation, check if Flash Player was installed via Red Hat channels: run 'rpm -qa | grep -i flash' and review any installed flash-related packages.
    Affected if Running RHEL 6.0 with any Flash Player package installed from the affected Red Hat version range

You are affected if Adobe Flash Player is installed and its version is below 28.0.0.161, with the vulnerability most readily exploitable in environments using the Primetime SDK media listener functionality.

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 28.0.0.161 or later
Fixed in 28.0.0.161
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Flash Player to version 28.0.0.161 or later. Given Adobe Flash reached end-of-life in December 2020, the recommended long-term remediation is to completely remove Flash Player from all systems.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Flash Player 28.0.0.161 or later (for RHEL/CentOS: apply latest flash-plugin security updates via yum)

  1. Upgrade Adobe Flash Player to version 28.0.0.161 or later to address the use-after-free vulnerability
  2. Verify the installed Flash Player version by navigating to 'About Adobe Flash Player' in the Flash settings or checking via command line (rpm -q flash-plugin on RHEL/CentOS)
  3. For Enterprise Linux 6 systems (Desktop, Server, Workstation), apply all available security updates via 'yum update flash-plugin' or 'yum update' to ensure the vendor-supplied patch is applied
  4. Confirm the upgrade was successful by checking the version again after installation
  5. Note: Adobe Flash Player reached end-of-life on December 31, 2020. Consider migrating away from Flash-based content as modern browsers have disabled Flash by default. If Flash is still required for legacy systems, ensure strict network isolation and consider deploying additional compensating controls.
Caveat Flash Player is End-of-Life since December 2020; no further security patches will be released by Adobe. Modern browsers have disabled Flash by default, so some content may become inaccessible after browser updates.

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2018-4878 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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