CVE-2015-8402 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.268 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.228 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.554 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 20.0.0.204, Adobe AIR SDK before 20.0.0.204, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 20.0.0.204 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-8048, CVE-2015-8049, CVE-2015-8050, CVE-2015-8055, CVE-2015-8056, CVE-2015-8057, CVE-2015-8058, CVE-2015-8059, CVE-2015-8061, CVE-2015-8062, CVE-2015-8063, CVE-2015-8064, CVE-2015-8065, CVE-2015-8066, CVE-2015-8067, CVE-2015-8068, CVE-2015-8069, CVE-2015-8070, CVE-2015-8071, CVE-2015-8401, CVE-2015-8403, CVE-2015-8404, CVE-2015-8405, CVE-2015-8406, CVE-2015-8410, CVE-2015-8411, CVE-2015-8412, CVE-2015-8413, CVE-2015-8414, CVE-2015-8420, CVE-2015-8421, CVE-2015-8422, CVE-2015-8423, CVE-2015-8424, CVE-2015-8425, CVE-2015-8426, CVE-2015-8427, CVE-2015-8428, CVE-2015-8429, CVE-2015-8430, CVE-2015-8431, CVE-2015-8432, CVE-2015-8433, CVE-2015-8434, CVE-2015-8435, CVE-2015-8436, CVE-2015-8437, CVE-2015-8441, CVE-2015-8442, CVE-2015-8447, CVE-2015-8448, CVE-2015-8449, CVE-2015-8450, CVE-2015-8452, and CVE-2015-8454.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/11/2024
The CVE-2015-8402 vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free flaw in Adobe Flash Player and related software components that affected multiple platform versions across Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-416 category, specifically addressing use-after-free conditions where a program continues to reference memory after it has been freed, creating potential exploitation opportunities for attackers. The affected versions include Flash Player before 18.0.0.268 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.228 on Windows and OS X, along with Flash Player before 11.2.202.554 on Linux, as well as Adobe AIR and AIR SDK components before their respective patched versions. The vulnerability operates through unspecified attack vectors that differ from numerous other related Flash Player vulnerabilities, making it particularly challenging to detect and defend against. The technical nature of this flaw allows malicious actors to manipulate memory allocation patterns and execute arbitrary code remotely, potentially leading to complete system compromise. These vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because Flash Player was widely deployed across enterprise environments and consumer systems, creating extensive attack surface for exploitation.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-8402 extends significantly beyond typical software vulnerabilities due to the pervasive use of Adobe Flash Player across web browsers and applications. Attackers could leverage this use-after-free condition to bypass modern security mitigations such as address space layout randomization and data execution prevention mechanisms that were increasingly common in 2015. The vulnerability's exploitation typically involves crafting malicious web content or files that trigger the specific memory management flaw when processed by the vulnerable Flash Player component. This could occur through compromised websites, malicious email attachments, or other delivery mechanisms that诱导 users to interact with the vulnerable software. Organizations running affected versions faced significant risk of unauthorized code execution, data theft, and potential persistence mechanisms that could maintain access to compromised systems. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would align with techniques such as T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation, as successful exploitation could lead to elevated system privileges and further lateral movement within networks. Security researchers noted that this vulnerability could be particularly difficult to detect in network traffic analysis due to the subtle nature of memory corruption exploits.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-8402 required immediate patching of all affected Adobe Flash Player and AIR components across all supported platforms. Organizations needed to implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all systems were updated promptly, as the vulnerability had already been exploited in the wild by the time of its disclosure. Network administrators should have deployed web application firewalls and content filtering solutions to block access to known malicious domains and content that could trigger the vulnerability. Additionally, browser security configurations needed to be adjusted to disable Flash Player plugins or restrict their execution to trusted sites only. The remediation process required careful testing of patched versions to ensure compatibility with existing applications and websites that relied on Flash functionality. Security teams implemented monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts through unusual memory access patterns or process behavior anomalies. The vulnerability highlighted the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches across all software components, particularly those with widespread deployment like Adobe Flash Player. Organizations also needed to develop incident response procedures specifically tailored to handle potential exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities, including forensic analysis capabilities to investigate compromised systems. The widespread nature of this vulnerability led to increased emphasis on software supply chain security and the need for organizations to maintain inventories of all third-party software components in their environments.