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NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

CVE-2018-4878: A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 88/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Nov 3, 2021); it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 90.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.8% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system 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:6) 0:28.0.0.161-1.el6_9.
  • Mentioned 2 times in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Patch today or shut off access. Upgrade to flash-plugin (Red Hat:rhel_extras:6) 0:28.0.0.161-1.el6_9 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

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

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.

Published
Feb 6, 2018
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
90.2% · 99th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

88

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
27 / 30 · 90.2%

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 Nov 3, 2021. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.

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  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • A fix has been released

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  • 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
applemacos
linuxlinux kernel
microsoftwindows
redhatenterprise linux desktop
redhatenterprise linux server
redhatenterprise linux workstation
microsoftwindows 10
microsoftwindows 8.1
googlechrome os

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (adobe). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • n/a Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161

    • Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161affected
Affected versions · NVD (4)

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

  • adobe flash playerbefore 28.0.0.161
  • redhat enterprise linux desktop6.0
  • redhat enterprise linux server6.0
  • 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:6flash-pluginbefore 0:28.0.0.161-1.el6_90:28.0.0.161-1.el6_9

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…KEV
    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…KEV
    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…KEV
    99Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2018-4871Jan 9, 2018 · An Out-of-bounds Read issue was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.137.
    32Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2018-4877Feb 6, 2018 · A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161.
    42Plan
  • Later →CVE-2018-4932May 19, 2018 · Adobe Flash Player versions 29.0.0.113 and earlier have an exploitable Use-After-Free vulnerability.
    37Monitor

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-plugin0:28.0.0.161-1.el6_9 · Red Hat:rhel_extras:6Package 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

  • Exploit-DB entry ×3
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×11

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 GitHub11 repositories2018-01-20 → 2026-07-30
Exploit-DB entryremote2018-04-06
Exploit-DB entrylocal2016-02-16
Exploit-DB entrylocal2016-02-13

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-725 d
  2. Published
  3. CISA KEV+1365 d
  4. TodayNov 13, 2026+3202 d

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system 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
Local
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:L/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.

References

Show all references (12 more)

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

All records