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CVE-2016-7855· NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.643 on Linux allows remote atta

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.643 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in October 2016.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized Fix available
Published
Nov 1, 2016
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
25.2% · 98th percentile
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Action score

73

This week

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CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
8 / 30 · 25.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Mar 3, 2022. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for government agencies: Mar 24, 2022.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
adobeflash player
applemac os x
googlechrome os
linuxlinux kernel
microsoftwindows
microsoftwindows 10
microsoftwindows 8.1
microsoftwindows rt 8.1
microsoftwindows server 2012
redhatenterprise linux desktop
redhatenterprise linux server
redhatenterprise linux workstation

Affected versions

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

  • adobe flash playerup to 23.0.0.185 inclusive
  • adobe flash playerup to 11.2.202.637 inclusive
  • redhat enterprise linux desktop5.0
  • redhat enterprise linux desktop6.0
  • redhat enterprise linux server5.0
  • redhat enterprise linux server6.0
  • redhat enterprise linux workstation5.0
  • redhat enterprise linux workstation6.0

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 0:11.2.202.643-1.el5_110:11.2.202.643-1.el5_11
Red Hat:rhel_extras:6flash-pluginbefore 0:11.2.202.643-1.el6_80:11.2.202.643-1.el6_8
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1flash-playerbefore 11.2.202.643-146.111.2.202.643-146.1

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-plugin0:11.2.202.643-1.el5_11 · Red Hat:rhel_extras:5::clientPackage registry (OSV)
suse:flash-player11.2.202.643-146.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • 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
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02016-10-26

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. First PoC-7 d
  2. Published
  3. CISA KEV+1947 d
  4. TodaySep 30, 2026+3620 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

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

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.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

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

All records