Skip to main content

CVE-2011-0611Adobe Flash Player Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Patch nowHigh8.8Exploited, CISA due date 2022-03-24EPSS 99%, higher than 100% of scored CVEs

CVE-2011-0611 is a type confusion in Adobe Flash Player, rated high (8.8 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

Memory holding one type of object is treated as another, often a route to code execution in browsers and script engines.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, but someone has to act first, such as opening a file or following a link.

What an attacker gains

A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.

Is it being exploited?

CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-03: it is being exploited in the wild. EPSS estimates a 99% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 100% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2022-03-24.
  2. Upgrade Adobe Flash Player to 10.2.154.27 or later. Other affected products have their own fixed versions on this page. The patch notes are linked below.
  3. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
  4. Warn the people who use it, and filter files and links on the way in.
  5. Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.

Description from NVD

Adobe Flash Player before 10.2.154.27 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris and 10.2.156.12 and earlier on Android; Adobe AIR before 2.6.19140; and Authplay.dll (aka AuthPlayLib.bundle) in Adobe Reader 9.x before 9.4.4 and 10.x through 10.0.1 on Windows, Adobe Reader 9.x before 9.4.4 and 10.x before 10.0.3 on Mac OS X, and Adobe Acrobat 9.x before 9.4.4 and 10.x before 10.0.3 on Windows and Mac OS X allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via crafted Flash content; as demonstrated by a Microsoft Office document with an embedded .swf file that has a size inconsistency in a "group of included constants," object type confusion, ActionScript that adds custom functions to prototypes, and Date objects; and as exploited in the wild in April 2011.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

  • Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
  • Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
  • Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.

Trust boundaries in play

  • Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
  • People who open files and links. Mail, chat and browsers are the delivery path.
  • Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.

Questions to answer about your own systems

  • Where does Adobe Flash Player run in your systems, and at which version?
  • Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
  • What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

Sources

  • CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
  • Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
  • Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
  • Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.