CVE-2018-4878
A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161. This vulnerability occurs due to a dangling pointer…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 90.3%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.2% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 3 Exploit-DB entries for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits4
Exploit-DB3 entries
- Adobe Flash < 28.0.0.161 - Use-After-Free (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 44412remote, multiplepublished 6 Apr 2018Not verified
- Flash ActiveX 28.0.0.137 - Code Execution (1) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 44744local, windowspublished 16 Feb 2016Not verified
- Flash ActiveX 28.0.0.137 - Code Execution (2) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 44745local, windowspublished 13 Feb 2016Not verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 44412 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By adobe
- 34 days later
· 34 days later
Published
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 90.3% · top 0.2% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161
- affected Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161
References
16
- http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/02/group-123-goes-wild.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://threatpost.com/adobe-flash-player-zero-day-spotted-in-the-wild/129742/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb18-03.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:0285 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 1040318 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 102893 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2018/02/attacks-leveraging-adobe-zero-day.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.morphisec.com/flash-exploit-cve-2018-4878-spotted-in-the-wild-massive-malspam-campaign (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/adobe-flash-vulnerability-reappears-in-malicious-word-files/d/d-id/1331139 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/InQuest/malware-samples/tree/master/CVE-2018-4878-Adobe-Flash-DRM-UAF-0day (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 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 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/vysec/CVE-2018-4878 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/hackers-bypassed-adobe-flash-protection-mechanism/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 44412 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-4878 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
- https://github.com/cisagov/vulnrichment/issues/196 (opens in a new tab)issue-tracking
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-16663 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-4878)Record last updated .