CVE DATABASE / CVE-2018-4878
CVE-2018-4878
Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability
Confirmed exploited in the wild. Added 2021-11-03.
Federal remediation due 2022-05-03.
Required action: The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.
Summary
A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161. This vulnerability occurs due to a dangling pointer in the Primetime SDK related to media player handling of listener objects. A successful attack can lead to arbitrary code execution. This was exploited in the wild in January and February 2018.
CVSS 3.1 breakdown
| Base score | 7.8 (HIGH) |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Attack vector | LOCAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | REQUIRED |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity | HIGH |
| Availability | HIGH |
Weakness type (CWE)
Affected products
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References
- http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/02/group-123-goes-wild.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102893
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040318
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:0285
- https://blog.morphisec.com/flash-exploit-cve-2018-4878-spotted-in-the-wild-massive-malspam-campaign
- https://github.com/InQuest/malware-samples/tree/master/CVE-2018-4878-Adobe-Flash-DRM-UAF-0day
- https://github.com/vysec/CVE-2018-4878
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb18-03.html
- https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/hackers-bypassed-adobe-flash-protection-mechanism/
- https://threatpost.com/adobe-flash-player-zero-day-spotted-in-the-wild/129742/
- https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/adobe-flash-vulnerability-reappears-in-malicious-word-files/d/d-id/1331139
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44412/
- https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2018/02/attacks-leveraging-adobe-zero-day.html
- https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/vulnerabilities-and-exploits/north-korean-hackers-allegedly-exploit-adobe-flash-player-vulnerability-cve-2018-4878-against-south-korean-targets
- https://github.com/cisagov/vulnrichment/issues/196
Data: NIST NVD + CISA KEV. NVD last modified 2025-11-18. Always verify against the vendor advisory before acting.