Zero Day Exploits Target Flash
Adobe scrambles to release patches for vulnerable Flash Player.
Adobe engineers worked overtime the past two weeks to restore security (and public confidence) in the ubiquitous Adobe Flash, which has been in the news recently with some high-profile zero-day exploits.
Adobe announced a patch on January 22 for a recent vulnerability (CVE-2015-0310) based on faulty memory protection. The patch applies to Windows, Mac OS, and Linux systems. According to security expert Kafeine, the exploit has already been integrated into the latest versions of the Angler exploit kit, a universal tool used by attackers. The attack was apparently used to install versions of the Bedep, a malware tool used for ad fraud.
The version of the attack detected in the wild appeared to focus on IE and Windows systems and could even compromise a fully updated version of Windows 8.1. However, researchers could not rule out the possibility of the attack being used with Mac and Linux systems as well. A later version of Angler appears to have been adapted to attack Firefox as well.
A related exploit (CVE-2015-0311) was also discovered in the wild and patched through a second emergency fix a week later.
Users are advised to install the patches as soon as possible.
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