Flash and Security

Went to run a speedtest earlier and it comes up with a warning that Flash is vulnerable! I need to activate it ... so, I did so. Then visiting the BBC website - same problem and wherever I go I need to activate Flash.

Two days ago, I had the "you need to upgrade flash" warning which I did and all sites seemed fine. Now, t seems it need to be activated on every site visited. I guess that if cookies are cleared on exit then it will be necessary "to allow" Flash every time a browser is run and a site visited.

It's been all over the news today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33520935

Have not got to that part yet ... and why did it suddenly start less than an hour ago? Especially as I have not done any FF or Flash updates today?

And checking back, I did the latest update to Flash yesterday.

I dont think you have to update FF, i think they can do it server side or something so that its applied automatically

tbh probably for the best. You can still tell FF to remember your preferences per site anyway. Going on the amount of zero day exploits flash has now might be worth keeping the setting to ask before activating

Our works PC''s are all using Flash Player 11!

yeah I posted this in the windows section.

Seems mozilla have blocked the "current" version of flash telling people to upgrade, except there is no upgrade.

This I feel is dumb as it will make people turn of the version checker to get round it.

On my PC:
File checked: c:\program files (x86)\adobe\reader 11.0\reader\acrord32.dll
Installed File Version: 11.0.11.18

Is there a later version that should be acquired?

And the relevance of Adobe reader to this thread is?

It is Adobe Flash where the problem is. Check that through your browser.

There is an update 209 released earlier today which they say removes the vulnerabilities.

Mozilla seems to be losing patience with Flash, as am I. It is notorious for security problems and I find it a pain when trying to update it. More often than not I have to manually delete the bits that are a problem as they don't seem to uninstall by themselves and, if I'm not very careful I find it wants to install Macafee as well. A pain, total

I've disabled it altogether and will see how I get on without it for a while

In the meanwhile these links may help others

https://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2015/07/resolu...

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/adobe-flash-player-die/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/07/once-again-a...

As I understand it at the time of writing the most up to date patch is 18.0.0.209

Shockwave Flash has been patched to 121.9.159

Reader has also been patched. Use the "check for updates" system to ensure you have the patched version.

Edited by deleted (Wed 15-Jul-15 15:17:16)

mozilla pulled this stunt before with java, and since I need java for work that really screwed me up. (java is common on enterprise use).

They have a system where they enforce a minimum version of plugin, but it seems occasionally they will enforce a version that doesnt exist.

Flash isnt needed so much now luckily mainly due to youtube going html5, ironically I needed it for the tbb tester.

The only 2 things I really use flash for now is nbc sports and tbb.

Edited by Chrysalis (Wed 15-Jul-15 17:32:50)

In reply to a post by MHC:

And the relevance of Adobe reader to this thread is?

It is Adobe Flash where the problem is. Check that through your browser.

O Dear this place is populated with the Internet Police who jump all over you if you make a genuine mistake. Quite rude as well rather than being tolerant.

I was only intending to enquire which was the best version of Flash that should be in place at present, in my case I have version 18.0.0.209 across the browsers I use. Does one downgrade to an earlier more stable version?

The version you have is the latest patched version currently. Should be no need to downgrade

The relevance to Adobe reader is that they have in fact issued security patches for that as well. So, yes, it is relevant