The following cyber advisory was issued by the New York State Office of Information Technology Services and is intended for State government entities. The information may or may not be applicable to the general public and, accordingly, the State does not warrant its use for any specific purposes.

ITS ADVISORY NUMBER:
2012-073

DATE(S) ISSUED:
09/26/2012

SUBJECT:
Vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player Could Allow For Remote Code Execution (APSB12-19)

OVERVIEW:

A vulnerability has been discovered in Adobe Flash Player that could allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Adobe Flash Player is a widely distributed multimedia and application player used to enhance the user experience when visiting web pages or reading email messages. Successful exploitation could result in an attacker gaining the same privileges as the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Failed exploit attempts will likely cause denial of service conditions.

A working commercial exploit is available through VUPEN Security - Exploit and PoCs Service. This exploit is not otherwise publicly available or known to be circulating in the Internet.

SYSTEMS AFFECTED:

Adobe Flash Player 11.3.300.271 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems
Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.236 and earlier versions for Linux operating system
Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.11 and earlier versions for Android 4.x
Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.10 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x
Adobe AIR 3.3.0.3670 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe AIR 3.3.0.3690 SDK (includes AIR for iOS) and earlier versions
Adobe AIR 3.3.0.3650 and earlier versions for Android

RISK:
Government:

Large and medium government entities: High
Small government entities: High

Businesses:

Large and medium business entities: High
Small business entities: High

Home users: High

DESCRIPTION:
Adobe Flash Player is prone to a vulnerability that could allow for remote code execution. The updates available from Adobe will resolve the following:

Memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2012-4163, CVE-2012-4164, CVE-2012-4165, CVE-2012-4166).
An integer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2012-4167).
A cross-domain information leak vulnerability (CVE-2012-4168).
The possibility of a crash caused by a logic error involving multiple dialogs in Firefox (CVE-2012-4171).
A Matrix3D integer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2012-5054).

Successful exploitation could result in an attacker gaining the same privileges as the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Failed exploit attempts will likely cause denial of service conditions.

Flash Player installed with Google Chrome will automatically be updated to the latest Google Chrome version, which will include Adobe Flash Player 11.3.31.230 for Windows and Linux, and Flash Player 11.4.402.265 for Macintosh.

A working commercial exploit is available through VUPEN Security - Exploit and PoCs Service. This exploit is not otherwise publicly available or known to be circulating in the wild.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
We recommend the following actions be taken:

Install the updates provided by Adobe immediately after appropriate testing.
Run all software as a non-privileged user (one without administrative privileges) to diminish the effects of a successful attack.
Remind users not to visit un-trusted websites or follow links provided by unknown or un-trusted sources.
Remind users not to open e-mail attachments from unknown users or suspicious e-mails from trusted sources.

REFERENCES:
Adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb12-19.html

Secunia:
http://secunia.com/advisories/50354/

SecurityFocus:
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55691

New York State

Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services

Thomas D. Smith

Director

Cyber Security

GIS

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