CVE-2015-5539 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.232 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.508 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 18.0.0.199, Adobe AIR SDK before 18.0.0.199, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 18.0.0.199 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5127, CVE-2015-5130, CVE-2015-5134, CVE-2015-5540, CVE-2015-5550, CVE-2015-5551, CVE-2015-5556, CVE-2015-5557, CVE-2015-5559, CVE-2015-5561, CVE-2015-5563, CVE-2015-5564, and CVE-2015-5565.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/14/2024
The CVE-2015-5539 vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free flaw in Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR runtime environments that emerged as a significant threat to enterprise and consumer systems during 2015. This vulnerability specifically affects multiple versions of Adobe's multimedia platform across different operating systems, with the Windows and OS X versions requiring patch updates to 18.0.0.232 or later, while Linux versions needed updates to 11.2.202.508 or higher. The vulnerability's classification as a use-after-free issue places it squarely within CWE-416, which describes the condition where a program continues to use a pointer after the memory it references has been freed, creating potential exploitation opportunities for malicious actors. The distinct nature of this vulnerability, separate from other similarly named CVEs from the same period, indicates a unique code path that was not addressed by the patches for related issues.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker can manipulate the Flash Player or AIR runtime to trigger a scenario where memory is freed but references to that memory persist within the application's execution flow. This creates a situation where subsequent operations on the freed memory location can be leveraged to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Flash Player process. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description suggest that the vulnerability could be triggered through various attack surfaces including malformed SWF files, web content, or embedded multimedia elements that would normally be processed by the Flash runtime. The vulnerability's presence across multiple platforms including Windows, OS X, and Linux demonstrates the widespread impact potential and the complexity of addressing such issues in cross-platform software environments.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to organizations relying on Adobe Flash content for web applications, multimedia presentations, or enterprise software interfaces. The exploitation of use-after-free vulnerabilities typically requires sophisticated attack techniques that may involve social engineering to deliver malicious content to targeted users, as the vulnerability itself is not directly exploitable through simple web browsing. Security researchers have noted that these types of vulnerabilities often require specific conditions to be met before successful exploitation can occur, making them somewhat more difficult to weaponize compared to simpler buffer overflow or injection vulnerabilities. However, the widespread adoption of Flash Player across different systems and applications made this vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where legacy Flash content might still be present.
The remediation approach for CVE-2015-5539 required immediate patch deployment across all affected Adobe products including Flash Player, Adobe AIR runtime, and Adobe AIR SDK components. Organizations implementing security measures should have prioritized patch management activities to ensure all systems were updated to the patched versions mentioned in the advisory. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 which covers the use of Flash content for execution, and demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date software libraries and runtime environments. The vulnerability also illustrates the broader security challenges associated with legacy software platforms and the critical need for organizations to maintain comprehensive software inventory management and timely patching procedures. Organizations should have implemented additional security controls such as web application firewalls, content filtering, and user education programs to mitigate the risk of exploitation while awaiting patch deployment. The incident highlighted the importance of vulnerability management processes and the need for security teams to maintain awareness of vulnerabilities in widely deployed software platforms.