CVE-2015-3081 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Race condition in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.289 and 14.x through 17.x before 17.0.0.188 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.460 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 17.0.0.172, Adobe AIR SDK before 17.0.0.172, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 17.0.0.172 allows attackers to bypass the Internet Explorer Protected Mode protection mechanism via unspecified vectors.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/25/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-3081 represents a critical race condition flaw within Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR runtime environments across multiple operating systems including Windows, OS X, and Linux. This security weakness affects specific version ranges of the software, with Flash Player being impacted before version 13.0.0.289 and 14.x through 17.x before 17.0.0.188, while Adobe AIR and its associated SDKs are vulnerable before version 17.0.0.172. The flaw specifically targets the Internet Explorer Protected Mode protection mechanism, which serves as a critical security boundary designed to isolate potentially malicious code from the underlying operating system. This race condition vulnerability exploits timing dependencies in the software execution flow, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate the system state during critical operations.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper synchronization mechanisms within the Flash Player and AIR runtime components, where concurrent operations can lead to unpredictable behavior and security boundary bypasses. The race condition occurs when multiple threads or processes access shared resources without proper locking mechanisms, allowing an attacker to time their malicious payload execution to occur during vulnerable window periods. This particular flaw operates at the kernel level in Windows environments, where Protected Mode relies on specific security policies and access controls that can be circumvented through carefully orchestrated timing attacks. The vulnerability manifests through unspecified vectors that typically involve exploiting the temporal gaps in security enforcement mechanisms, particularly when Flash Player interacts with Internet Explorer's security model.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-3081 is severe and multifaceted, as successful exploitation can result in complete bypass of Protected Mode protections that are fundamental to modern browser security architectures. This allows attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, potentially leading to full system compromise, data exfiltration, and persistence mechanisms. The vulnerability's cross-platform nature means that organizations using Adobe Flash Player and AIR across different operating systems face similar risks, though the attack surface varies by platform due to differences in Protected Mode implementations. The timing-sensitive nature of the race condition makes this vulnerability particularly challenging to defend against, as traditional signature-based detection methods may fail to identify the precise conditions under which exploitation occurs.
Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR installations to mitigate this vulnerability, with particular attention to the specific version ranges mentioned in the advisory. System administrators should implement network-based controls to restrict Flash content execution, particularly in high-risk environments where Protected Mode is critical for security. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which describes race conditions in concurrent programming, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through Flash-based attacks. Additional mitigations include disabling Flash Player in web browsers, implementing strict content security policies, and deploying endpoint protection solutions that can detect anomalous behavior patterns associated with race condition exploitation. Regular security assessments should verify that patched systems maintain proper Protected Mode functionality and that no remnants of the vulnerable software remain in the environment.