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Zero Day

Ryan Naraine and Dancho Danchev

Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack

By | September 13, 2010, 3:15pm PDT

Summary: The zero-day hacker attacks against Adobe’s software products are coming fast and furious.

The zero-day hacker attacks against Adobe’s software products are coming fast and furious.

Less than a week after the discovery of a sophisticated malware attack against an unpatched security hole in Adobe Reader/Acrobat, the company has issued a new warning for in-the-wild attacks against a zero-day flaw in its ubiquitous Flash Player.

Adobe says the vulnerability affects Flash Player 10.1.82.76 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris, and Android.

It also affects Adobe Reader 9.3.4 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX; and Adobe Acrobat 9.3.4 and earlier versions for Windows and Mac.follow Ryan Naraine on twitter

From Adobe’s advisory:

This vulnerability (CVE-2010-2884) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against Adobe Flash Player. Adobe is not aware of any attacks exploiting this vulnerability against Adobe Reader or Acrobat to date.

Technical details about the vulnerability are not yet available.

Adobe says it expects to issue a Flash Player patch during the week of September 27, 2010.

Patches for Adobe Reader aren’t due until the week of October 4, 2010.

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Topics

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues.

Disclosure

Ryan Naraine

The most important disclosure is of my employment with Kaspersky Lab as a security evangelist. Kaspersky Lab is a global company specializing in anti-malware and secure content management technologies. I do not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Ryan Naraine

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe. He is taking a leadership role in developing the company's online community initiative around secure content management technologies.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Ryan was Editor-at-Large/Security at eWEEK, leading the magazine's and Web site's coverage of Internet and computer security issues and managing the popular SecurityWatch blog, covering the daily threats, vulnerabilities and IT security technologies. He also covered IT security, hacker attacks and secure content management topics for Jupiter Media's internetnetnews.com.

Ryan can be reached at naraine SHIFT 2 gmail.com. For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

Talkback Most Recent of 71 Talkback(s)

  • IE on Windows and Firefox on Ubuntu should be safe
    Thanks to the "on by default" sandbox that protect IE (on Vista and Windows 7) and Firefox (on Ubuntu), users of these products have nothing to fear from these vulnerabilities.

    OS X, however, is totally and utterly unsafe by default. You have been warned. For the love of the children, please switch from OS X.

    OS X: the least safe OS out there. I stake my reputation on it.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    13th Sep 2010
  • Oh no
    @NonZealot
    OS X: the least safe OS out there. I stake my reputation on it.

    And to bring in the children. sad
    ZDNet Gravatar
    klumper
    13th Sep 2010
  • RE: Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack
    @klumper Definitely you are right. essay | term paper | research paper
    ZDNet Gravatar
    linasmith
    24th Aug
  • RE: Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack
    @NonZealot

    Safety is not completely determined by the vulnerability of a product. Whether you are being targeted is a major factor. Your kevlar vest may be safer than my T-shirt, but I'm probably safer sitting in a park vs. you walking through a firing range.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    forrestgump2000@...
    13th Sep 2010
  • Nice analogy, I do have to give you that...
    @forrestgump2000@...

    However, one walking through a firing range would no doubt have their guard up, and be expecting any attack so as to defend themselves.

    On the other hand, those sitting in the park will be ignorantly looking on as they are brutally attacked, especially while all the other park idiots are constantly claiming "oh, it will never happen here!"
    ZDNet Gravatar
    SonofaSailor
    13th Sep 2010
  • I will tell you what....
    @ SonofaSailor

    I will sit on an average park bench on a typical busy Saturday afternoon.

    You put on your flak vest and start walking behind the targets at firing range on a typical busy Saturday afternoon.

    We will see who fares better.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Bruizer
    13th Sep 2010
  • The unwritten computer law ....
    @forrestgump2000@... Unfortunately, there is a not so well known computer law that applies to users:

    The more idiot proof you make something, the better idiots you create.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wackoae
    13th Sep 2010
  • RE: Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack
    @forrestgump2000@... Thanks for sharing. i really appreciate it that you shared with us such a informative post..
    Research Paper Help
    Term Paper Help
    Essay Help
    ZDNet Gravatar
    bynes69
    17th Sep
  • RE: Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack
    @forrestgump2000@... Thanks for the information. This is a wonderful post!!
    Thesis Help
    Dissertation Help
    ZDNet Gravatar
    bynes69
    17th Sep
  • You never had a much of a reputation to stake.
    @NonZealot

    And now you just lost it. So sad.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Bruizer
    13th Sep 2010
  • RE: Adobe Flash Player zero-day under attack
    @Bruizer Yes i am also saying that this is really very sad. Assignment | Dissertation
    ZDNet Gravatar
    linasmith
    24th Aug
  • ZDNet Gravatar
    Dietrich T. Schmitz, ~ Your Linux Advocate
    14th Sep 2010
  • Too good
    @Dietrich

    Hey wait. You...I.....oh never mind.

    LOL
    ZDNet Gravatar
    klumper
    14th Sep 2010
  • OS X does have MAC so a sandbox is possible.
    @NonZealot: I believe it was first implemented in Leopard. However the only use I'm aware of is with Time Machine (TM). You can see it in action by attempting to delete TM backups. You won't be able to do so...even as root. It's a shame because it could secure Safari in a manner much like Windows and Linux.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    ye
    14th Sep 2010
  • Sandboxing your browser will not protect you from...
    @NonZealot... A Malicious PDF file. False sense of security, I hope to dear God that you are not a tech, as these children you speak of would be in serious trouble.

    And I do believe your reputation is safe, as this really doesn't deviate from your typical MSFT Script.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Snooki_smoosh_smoosh
    14th Sep 2010

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