CVE-2016-4160 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.352 and 19.x through 21.x before 21.0.0.242 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.621 on Linux allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-1096, CVE-2016-1098, CVE-2016-1099, CVE-2016-1100, CVE-2016-1102, CVE-2016-1104, CVE-2016-4109, CVE-2016-4111, CVE-2016-4112, CVE-2016-4113, CVE-2016-4114, CVE-2016-4115, CVE-2016-4120, CVE-2016-4161, CVE-2016-4162, and CVE-2016-4163.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/16/2024
Adobe Flash Player versions prior to specific patched releases contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution and denial of service attacks. This vulnerability affected multiple platform versions including Windows and OS X systems running Flash Player versions before 18.0.0.352 and 19.x through 21.x before 21.0.0.242, as well as Linux systems before 11.2.202.621. The flaw manifested through unspecified attack vectors that differed from several other vulnerabilities in the same timeframe, making it a distinct security concern within Adobe's Flash Player ecosystem.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involved memory corruption issues that could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. Memory corruption vulnerabilities typically arise when software fails to properly manage memory allocation and deallocation, allowing malicious actors to manipulate memory addresses and potentially inject or execute malicious code. This particular flaw likely involved buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, or other memory management errors that could be triggered through malformed Flash content delivered via web browsers or other applications that embed Flash Player functionality.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was severe as it provided attackers with a means to compromise systems remotely without requiring user interaction or specific privileges. The vulnerability could be exploited through web-based attacks where users visited malicious websites hosting compromised Flash content, making it particularly dangerous for widespread exploitation. Organizations running affected Flash Player versions faced significant risk of unauthorized system access, data breaches, and potential complete system compromise. The vulnerability's presence across multiple operating systems and version ranges increased the attack surface substantially.
Security professionals should have implemented immediate mitigation strategies including disabling Flash Player plugins in web browsers, applying the relevant security patches provided by Adobe, and monitoring network traffic for exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification aligns with common weakness enumerations such as CWE-121 for heap-based buffer overflow and CWE-125 for out-of-bounds read conditions. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability would map to techniques in the attack pattern taxonomy under code injection and privilege escalation categories, potentially enabling adversaries to achieve persistent access and execute malicious payloads. Organizations should have prioritized patch management and application whitelisting to prevent exploitation, as the vulnerability's nature made it particularly suitable for advanced persistent threat campaigns. The incident highlighted the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date software components and the inherent risks associated with legacy multimedia plugins that had been widely deployed across enterprise environments.