Critical Vulnerabilities Patched in New Version of Adobe Flash Player
In the security bulletin released on 12 May 2011, Adobe announced to have fixed critical Flash player bugs of version 10.2.159.1 and earlier for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, 10.2.154.28 and earlier for Chrome and 10.2.157.51 and earlier versions for Android. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and also potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
Adobe also reported to have heard about a malware exploit, through a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a MS Word (.doc) or MS Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment, targeting the systems running on Windows OS. So make sure you are not opening attachments from unknown emails until you update flash.
The new versions for various platforms are as follows:
- For Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris OS – 10.3.181.14
- For Android – 10.3.185.21
The Flash player for Chrome has been updated via the new version 11.0.696.68. Other users can use Flash Player Download Center to get the latest version. For Android users, the update is available in Android market place.
Adobe rates the severity of the vulnerabilities as critical and recommends to update newer versions at the earliest possible.
To verify your Adobe Flash Player version
Launch your browser and open this link – kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html OR www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Flash player is installed as a plug-in in each individual browser. If you are using multiple browsers like Firefox, Chrome and IE, make sure you verify Flash version in each and every one of them. Follow the above step to do so for all your browsers.
