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CVE-2016-0974· NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.329 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.306 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 44/100)

  • Public proof-of-concept code exists (Exploit-DB, GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 30.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.2% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: flash-plugin (Red Hat:rhel_extras:5::client) 0:11.2.202.569-1.el5; flash-plugin (Red Hat:rhel_extras:6) 0:11.2.202.569-1.el6_7; flash-player (SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4) 11.2.202.569-0.35.1.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Upgrade to flash-plugin (Red Hat:rhel_extras:5::client) 0:11.2.202.569-1.el5; flash-plugin (Red Hat:rhel_extras:6) 0:11.2.202.569-1.el6_7; flash-player (SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4) 11.2.202.569-0.35.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.329 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.306 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.569 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 20.0.0.260, Adobe AIR SDK before 20.0.0.260, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 20.0.0.260 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-0973, CVE-2016-0975, CVE-2016-0982, CVE-2016-0983, and CVE-2016-0984.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Feb 10, 2016
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
30.8% · 98th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

44

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
9 / 30 · 30.8%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2016-0974

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
adobeflash player
adobeflash player desktop runtime
adobeair desktop runtime
adobeair sdk
adobeair sdk \& compiler
linuxlinux kernel
applemac os x
microsoftwindows
microsoftwindows 10
microsoftwindows 8.1
googlechrome os
appleiphone os

and 1 more

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • adobe air desktop runtimeup to 20.0.0.233 inclusive
  • adobe air sdkup to 20.0.0.233 inclusive
  • adobe air sdk & compilerup to 20.0.0.233 inclusive
  • adobe flash playerup to 11.2.202.559 inclusive
  • adobe flash playerup to 20.0.0.286 inclusive
  • adobe flash playerup to 18.0.0.326 inclusive
  • adobe flash playerup to 20.0.0.272 inclusive
  • adobe flash player desktop runtimeup to 20.0.0.286 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Red Hat:rhel_extras:5::clientflash-pluginbefore 0:11.2.202.569-1.el50:11.2.202.569-1.el5
Red Hat:rhel_extras:6flash-pluginbefore 0:11.2.202.569-1.el6_70:11.2.202.569-1.el6_7
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4flash-playerbefore 11.2.202.569-0.35.111.2.202.569-0.35.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12flash-playerbefore 11.2.202.569-120.111.2.202.569-120.1

Same product

adobe: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2015-5119Use-after-free vulnerability in the ByteArray class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13.x through 13.0.0.296KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2015-3113Heap-based buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.296 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.194 on Windows and OS X and before 11KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2014-0497Integer underflow in Adobe Flash Player before 11.7.700.261 and 11.8.x through 12.0.x before 12.0.0.44 on Windows and Mac OS X, and before 1KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2015-0313Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.269 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.305 on Windows and OS X and before KEV
    98Now
  • CVE-2016-4117Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.226 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wilKEV
    97Now
  • CVE-2015-5122Use-after-free vulnerability in the DisplayObject class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13.x through 13.0.0KEV
    97Now

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
red hat:flash-plugin0:11.2.202.569-1.el5 · Red Hat:rhel_extras:5::clientPackage registry (OSV)
suse:flash-player11.2.202.569-120.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Exploit-DB entry ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Exploit-DB entrydos2016-02-17
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:492018-04-01

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+6 d
  3. TodayOct 14, 2026+3899 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

c
free(dev->buf);/* ... another thread is still running ... */process(dev->buf);

Fixed

c
lock(&dev->lock);free(dev->buf);dev->buf = NULL;unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (7 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records