Alert - Active Exploitation of Vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player

Number: AL16-012
Date: 14 June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this alert is to bring attention to the active exploitation of a recently disclosed vulnerability VulnerabilityA flaw or weakness in the design or implementation of an information system or its environment that could be exploited to adversely affect an organization's assets or operations. in Adobe Flash Player.

Assessment

CCIRC is aware of attacks exploiting a previously unknown critical vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player. The vulnerability exists in version 21.0.0.242 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Chrome OS. Identified as CVE-2016-4171, exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to take control of the affected system after having caused a deliberate crash.

Adobe is planning to provide a patch as early as 16 June 2016.

Suggested action

CCIRC recommends system administrators test and deploy the latest version of Adobe Flash Player to affected systems accordingly in an effort to mitigate this vulnerability.

Operators may also consider disabling Adobe Flash until a permanent patch has been released.

Organizations should consider installing Microsoft's Experience Mitigation Toolkit (EMET). The Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit helps mitigate the exploitation of vulnerabilities by adding additional protection layers that make them harder to exploit.

References

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsa16-03.html