Main Vulnerability Database Vulnerabilities #VU1078

Use-after-free error in Adobe Flash Player for Linux and Adobe Flash Player - CVE-2016-7855

Published: October 26, 2016 / Updated: March 8, 2022

Vulnerability identifier: #VU1078

CSH Severity: Critical

CVSS v4: 8.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2016-7855

CWE-ID: CWE-119

Exploitation vector: Remote access

Exploit availability: The vulnerability is being exploited in the wild

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to use-after-free error when handling .swf files. A remote attacker can trick the victim to visit a website or open a file with malicious Flash file and execute arbitrary code on the target system with privileges of the current user.

Note: this vulnerability was being actively exploited in the wild.

Affected software

Adobe Flash Player for Linux
Adobe Flash Player
Arch Linux
Microsoft Windows
Windows Server

How to mitigate CVE-2016-7855

The vulnerability is fixed in version 23.0.0.205 for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome OS and in version 11.2.202.643 for Linux.

Links to Public Exploits and PoC-codes

Exploit #1882 - CheckFlashPlayerVersion (Check the Browser's FlashPlayer version to check if it is vulnerable to exploit CVE-2016-7855) (March 18, 2020)

External References

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb16-36.html