CVE-2018-4878: Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2018-4878 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player. It is known to be exploited: CISA lists it, first on 03-11-2021. It has been used in ransomware campaigns. EPSS estimates a 89.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 4 public exploits are recorded.

Timeline

1. 06-02-2018
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 03-11-2021
   Added to CISA KEVAdobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability
3. 03-05-2022
   CISA remediation dueThe impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.
4. 17-11-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161. This vulnerability occurs due to a dangling pointer in the Primetime SDK related to media player handling of listener objects. A successful attack can lead to arbitrary code execution. This was exploited in the wild in January and February 2018.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.