14 DAY TRIAL // Apple acknowledges in a support document that a new version of the Adobe Flash Player is now available for Macs to address a recently identified vulnerability. The Mac maker has updated the Safari web plugin-blocking mechanism to disable the web plugin from its systems yet again.
The documentation reveals that, “to help protect users from a recent vulnerability, Apple has updated the web plug-in-blocking mechanism to disable older versions of the web plug-in: Adobe Flash Player.”
The Cupertino giant directs customers to an additional technote for details on the new Flash Player update and a particular behavior on behalf of Safari when dealing with Flash content.
When attempting to view Flash content in Safari, users may see the alert “Blocked Plug-in.” Selecting the message will display another prompt stating that “‘Adobe Flash Player’ is out of date,” with options to download the latest version of Flash, or to dismiss the dialog window.
A set of instructions is offered, with Apple encouraging customers to download the latest Flash installer and follow the installation instructions.
“1. Click ‘Download Flash…’ to have Safari open the Adobe Flash Player installer website. 2. Download the latest Adobe Flash Player installer--click the ‘Download now’ button. 3. Open the downloaded disk image. 4. Open the installer and follow the onscreen instructions.”
On February 26, Adobe updated Flash Player 11.6 to address “functional and security issues when browsing and playing Flash content,” according to a memo on the company’s official forums.
The makers of Photoshop also noted that the new Flash version also dealt a blow to the microphone SampleDataEvent issues reported earlier.
Adobe also informed customers that the updates for Chrome and Internet Explorer would be coming from Google and Microsoft themselves.
“Please note that both Flash Player for Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows 8 are updated using a different mechanism,” the company said.
“Flash Player for Google Chrome updates will occur during regular Chrome updates. Flash Player updates for Internet Explorer on Windows 8 will be provided by Microsoft though the Windows automatic update feature,” said Adobe.