Tweet

Hackers Exploit New Adobe Flash Player Bug

Guest post by: Dennis Schooley

Article Overview: Cybercriminals can get into users’ computers via a new security flaw in Adobe Flash player, Adobe Systems Inc. warned Friday.

Hackers Exploit New Adobe Flash Player Bug

The attack is not yet widespread. Adobe spokeswoman Wiebke Lips said they had received only two reports of attacks, the first one detected on Friday morning. Nevertheless, Adobe wrote on its security advisory that "this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat."

The bug causes system failure in the Adobe software and provides a backdoor entry for attackers to take control of the computer.

The flaw affects Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.45.2, 9.0.262 as well as versions 10.0.x and 9.0.x for Windows, Linux, Solaris and Macintosh. Also vulnerable are Adobe Reader, Acrobat 9.3.2 and 9.x versions for Macintosh, Windows and UNIX.

According to Adobe officials, Flash Player 10.1 Release Candidate 7 and Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x seemed immune to the flaw.

As of this writing, Adobe has yet to come up with an official patch for the flaw, although users may protect their computers by downloading the Flash Player 10.1 Release Candidate 7. They must also make sure that they are using the latest versions of the Reader and Acrobat code.

Another way to protect the flaw from wreaking havoc in one's computer is to delete, rename or block access to the authplay.dll file.

Symantec reports that Adobe's free Reader software has become a magnet for hackers in recent years. About half of online attacks were made possible by using malicious PDF files. Unfortunately, Flash is currently the main option for electronic document sharing, leaving many computers vulnerable to its flaws.

Adobe's less secure platform was one of the major reasons why Steve Jobs did not allow Adobe Flash to be available on the iPhone or iPad.

In February 2010, Adobe apologized for its failure to fix a Flash Player bug for 16 months. The flaw had caused Safari 3, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and Firefox to crash.

Related Articles
  Vulnerability in Adobe Flash leaves Twitter users info prey for hackers
  3 Ways to Play Adobe Flash SWF Files on iPhone 4
  Pros and Cons of Flashbased Sites
  how to convert PowerPoint to Flash with Adobe Flash SC4
  Flash Services In Website Development
  Flash Ads Alter Web Interface
  The Winner of the War of Video Encoder: H.264
  Digital Video Formats-Codecs Compression and CCTV Video
  How to Make Your Blog More Attractive by Flash Animations
  Flash Websites – Fun and Effective, or Dead on Arrival?
  ••••••>SEO Tips for Beginners: SEO Pitfalls of Flash. While Flash May Seem Flashy When it Comes to SEO, It Isn't!
  HTML5 – Future of The Web
  The Easy Way to Show Business Presentation Unrestrictedly
  Flash is Outdated
  Is There A Little Tarnish on the Adobe Magic?
  How the order of Google search results will be affected by new search capacity and what this means for your website
  Use Flash With a Caution
  Do you Really Want a Flash Website
  How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist
  Advantages and disadvantages of Flash

Article Tags: Adobe flash player, bug, exploit, hackers, security



Related Forum Posts
Re: your nav bar - [quote="jvprosperity":1i029054]when I originally checked on Friday I was running Win2K and Firefox. I got an upgrade on the weekend and now am running WinXP and Firefox 2.0.0.6. If you did make your modifications then yes I'm seeing the nav bar now.[/quote:1i029054] Hi, Andy I had emailed the FlashVortex people and they told me something I'd done wrong in re-naming the file, so I fixed that. Glad to hear you can now see it. However, using the bootstraps and suspenders approach, I've left the animated bar at the top of every page, but at the bottom is the regular html-based nav bar, plus a link to the Adobe Flash Player telling people to download it!
Re: Why is Adobe #1 for the keyword "Click Here" in Google? - Hi, Yes, most people need to focus on link development to increase their search engine rankings. But, if we analyzed the back links of Adobe I will bet that the majority of links were not purchased, not part of a link exchange, or even obtained by some internet marketer that worked for Adobe. The majority of links came because Adobe created a good product & a free download for that good product. That is something to keep in mind when promoting a website or trying to obtain links. Is it more cost effective to buy links or save your advertising dollars and just create a reason to be noticed? Jeff
Beware new technology! - [quote:2p4gn906]I hope this helps you debug the problem, good luck.[/quote:2p4gn906] Hi, Cenay It's not a problem that can be "debugged." Unfortunately if people don't have a Flash Player they can't see the navigation bar, and it's turning out a lot of people don't have flash player!!! Which is annoying because the literature I read said it came "bundled" with the latest browsers...so everyone [i:2p4gn906]would [/i:2p4gn906]have it... Guess I'd better put back the old-fashioned navigation bar. I'm loathe to lose that classy look - but it's worse than useless if people can't see it!!!! Thanks guys for taking a look and letting me know. Not the news I wanted to hear, but needed to hear.
Why is Adobe #1 for the keyword "Click Here" in Google? - Hi, Do you know why Adobe is #1 for the keyword "click here" in Google? They don't have the keyword "click here" in their page title, meta description, meta keywords, header (h1) tags, breadcrumbs, in their content, not in their header, footer, or any other place on the page that ranks #1 for the word "click here." Can you explain why Adobe is #1? If so, what is your suggestion for to website owners that want to rank #1 for competitive keywords? Jeff
Re: Success - I think it was Gary Player who said the harder I practice the luckier I become when it came to his success as a world class golfer. Planning and dedication to a task can make all the difference between success and failure. MichelleJ


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

You Have A Website What Now

Is the Media to blame for losses in super?

Work at home Opportunities for the Disabled

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.