Adobe confirms security hole in Flash Player which leaves users exposed to hackers
As if Adobe Flash wasn’t already struggling enough.
A massive security flaw has just been confirmed, which could leave all Flash users exposed to hackers crashing their computers, or even taking control over them.
Adobe has confirmed the “critical” vulnerability, which apparently affects all versions of Flash Player, whether on Windows, Mac or Linux.
The company said the only way for users to fully protect themselves is to completely uninstall Flash Player. In a security report, Adobe wrote:
Successful exploitation could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
Adobe was apparently made aware of hackers exploiting this vulnerability in “limited, targeted attacks”, but to what extent is unknown.
The company is working on an update and hopes the hole, first discovered by researchers at Trend Micro, will be fixed sometime today.
This is hardly the first time the embattled Flash Player has been exposed to security vulnerabilities. Apple has famously banished the plugin from all its devices, and in July, Mozilla decided to ban it on Firefox because it was too unsafe.
Could today's news be the final nail in the coffin for Flash?