14 DAY TRIAL // Adobe Systems Inc. have issued a new version of their popular Flash Player, informing users that updating is imperative as the platform is suffering from a number of flaws that may end up with hackers taking control of the affected system.
Adobe categorizes the update as “critical”, and recommends that users update their installations to the newest versions at once. And here’s why.
According to the Photoshop-maker, Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.7 and earlier versions for Macintosh, Windows, Linux and Solaris operating systems have “critical vulnerabilities [that] could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.”
On Android-powered devices, Adobe Flash Player 10.3.186.6 and earlier versions are also affected.
Adobe did some research and discovered that “There are reports that one of these vulnerabilities (CVE-2011-2444) is being exploited in the wild in active targeted attacks designed to trick the user into clicking on a malicious link delivered in an email message.”
Hence their decision to label the issue as “critical”.
“This universal cross-site scripting issue could be used to take actions on a user's behalf on any website or webmail provider if the user visits a malicious website,” the company adds.
The natural resolution, of course, is to update to the latest version of Flash. Adobe breaks it down by platform in the lines to follow:
“Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.7 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris update to Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.10,” reads their security bulletin.
“Users of Adobe Flash Player for Android 10.3.186.6 and earlier versions should update to Adobe Flash Player for Android 10.3.186.7,” Adobe outlines.
Mac users can grab the latest Flash version using the link below.