Adobe confirms major Flash vulnerability, and the only way to protect yourself is to uninstall Flash

[onehandle]

Source: BRG

The fun never ends with Adobe Flash.

Just one day after Adobe released its monthly security patches for various software including Flash Player, the company confirmed a major security vulnerability that affects all versions of Flash for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. You read that correctly… all versions. Adobe said it has been made aware that this vulnerability is being used by hackers to attack users, though it says the attacks are limited and targeted. Using the exploit, an attacker can crash a target PC or even take complete control of the computer.

And now for the fun part: The only way to effectively protect yourself against this serious security hole is to completely uninstall Flash Player from your machine.

Read more: http://bgr.com/2015/10/15/adobe-flash-player-security-vulnerability-warning

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Haven't had Flash installed on my Mac in years.

[Electric Monk]

1. How to uninstall Flash Player from your Mac

http://www.macworld.com/article/2993361/security/how-to-uninstall-flash-player-from-your-mac.html

[brush]

27. Steve Jobs hated Flash

Guess this is one reason why.

[cstanleytech]

33. Jobs hated most everything he did not have control over though. nt

[2naSalit]

2. and an alternative would be..?

I have Flash and it is necessary to watch much of what I watch online since I don't have a TeeVee and try to keep up with the news and some stuff on Comedy Central and u-toob.

I'm in a very remote location and it's the only way to get news and entertainment without buying a satellite dish and other stuff I can't afford to buy and maintain. Hell, internet access is pretty pricey up here in the first place but it's all inclusive at least.

I'd remove the software but I need an alternative first. Using Windows 7.

Suggestions?

[Bubzer]

3. Some possibilities

1. LightSpark:

The first and most effective software that is on top of our list of best alternatives to Adobe Flash Player is LightSpark. Developed on C language, it is an open source flash player and browser plugin that can help you view all files that you cannot view without Adobe Flash Player. It is basically meant to support all new Flash Player formats such as AVM2 and virtual machine. However, it can only run on Linux operating system.

2. Unity Web Player:

Unity Web Player, available for Windows and Mac OS X, is one of the most powerful software that can replace Adobe Flash Player easily. Unlike the other alternatives, any sorts of requirements like browser version, OS restrictions, etc. Along with playing online games and enjoying HD video streaming, it also gives you the power of developing 3D games with animated characters and mesmerizing graphics.

3. GNU Gnash:

Gnash is another free alternative created by GNU which you can use to view video streaming and rich internet media files instead of Adobe Flash Player. It has all the powerful features that you may want in an alternative to Flash Player. Unlike LightSpark, you can use Gnash on a number of platforms such as Windows, Linux, BSD, etc. It can support attributes of SWF v7, SWF v8 and SWF v9.

4. Silverlight:

Last contender on our list of alternatives to Adobe Flash Player is Silverlight –fetched out directly from the house of Microsoft. It is undoubtedly one of the software that has started giving hard time to Flash Player. As, it is based on .NET framework, it is compatible with almost every web browser, mobile devices and different operating systems. Its latest version can also be used to develop and create responsive web and mob applications.

http://www.transitionblog.com/4-most-amazing-alternatives-to-adobe-flash-player/

[Make7]

7. Is Microsoft supporting organized crime?

[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #bfbfbf inset;"]Its latest [font style="font-size:0.9231em;"][Silverlight][/font] version can also be used to develop and create responsive web and mob applications.

[Bubzer]

9. hehe

Mob is apparently short for mobile. Someone got lazy with their engrish.

[YOHABLO]

11. Three more f...ing letters i - l - e ? How lazy can people get? Pretty damn lazy

[grasswire]

15. how do I disable flash and enable silverlight?

I have silverlight on my computer.

[Live and Learn]

16. It is different for each browser but always easy.

Just do a search for disable Flash and your browser name. It is usually a good idea to keep it disabled as a default and just turn it on when you really need it.

[Marty McGraw]

4. Good Judgements & Habits

Never have the computer on-line w/out it being attended. Have a toggle shortcut icon on your desktop you can switch on & off your network connection at will. Kill the power if you suspect something phishey etc.

[Marty McGraw]

5. I have always expected

something like this has been going on for a good long while now and is not really new. Once again, just have an easy network kill switch handy so when it is not in full use you can be disconnected. Maybe have a separate computer you use to do all the sensitive transactions with and the other for... entertainment.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Firefox has an add on called Flash block

It replaces Flash content with a red button so you can click if you want the Flash, else leave it alone.

Chromium does not seem to have an issue, it plays stuff that even Firefox resists opening.

[Marty McGraw]

42. Yep

Loves' the FlashBlock. And, when I want to store and archive video on my machine, their Flash Download comes in handy as well.

[joshcryer]

13. Everything is moving to Javascript and HTML5.

With Web GL. Firefox and Chrome are already phasing out Flash, it served us well but it'll be gone in a few short years.

[hobbit709]

20. As if Javascript doesn't have its own problems.

[joshcryer]

21. It does, but its problems are open source.

Unlike Flash.

Any issues in the two most popular javascript engines can be resolved by developers. Flash is closed, its issues are Adobe's issues. Flash might survive if Adobe open sources' it, but that's unlikely to happen.

[Recursion]

17. Firefox and Chrome can play HTML5 video natively

The only thing that really needs flash nowadays is the old flash games and homestarrunner.

[whatthehey]

26. and bbc iplayer, and the most popular stock trading app...

[backscatter712]

30. HTML5. Time to start yelling at video-content sites to set up HTML5 players. n/t

[sofa king]

36. HTML-5

The HTML-5 protocol is capable of delivering streaming content, and it finally works, and someone is finally using it.

Twitch.tv is in the process of migrating to HTML 5 and this week I haven't noticed any Flash streams, so they must be well on their way to complete.

Chrome defaults to HTML 5 automatically when available, without any additional downloads.

Unfortunately, it is dependent upon the content provider to deliver the HTML 5 stream. Recall that Netflix and Silverlight were chained together for years and in all that time Microsoft could never figure out how to get the stream to set the resolution according to the available bandwidth, rather than the other way around. That is why your movies looked like slide shows on nice TVs and monitors--for years.

Many other content providers will also be far too incompetent to change their delivery method.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. I remember years ago checking settings and thinking, "WTF? Allow access to my camera?"

[sofa king]

37. It would silently reset with each silent update, too.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. Seems spying on users is the default from the beginning....

The mindset that would include the code is the weird thing.

I guess they could claim it was for video conferencing but once it became obvious it was going to be a movie player the thought of Big Brother should have dawned on them.

This is also where we get back to the Supreme Court saying there is a fundamental Right To Privacy in the Constitution. (Thank you Thurgood).

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Just as soon as I get through Doc Martin.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. I just installed the Video WithOut Flash add-on and disabled Flash ...

will see how it works out.

[YOHABLO]

12. I've had nothing but problems with Flash. I need to find another means of playing my video etc.

Thanks for the suggestions .. will try them out. Although I'll probably make the problem worse. But lately Flash has been crashing and crashing. I'm so damn sick of it. Life is frustrating enough.

[pinebox]

14. Opera

I use Opera as my main browser which blocks ALL flash unless I click it to play manually. I figure that is probably the safest bet out there besides completely installing it.

[2naSalit]

18. Wow

Thanks for all the possibilities! Thank you all for quickly responding. This will take a little time for me to sort out and it's past bedtime, work calls early in the morning, but I am anxiously awaiting a little time over the next couple days to figure out which alternate to choose. This is kind of exciting in techie kind of way. I've been pretty dismayed with FLASH for a while now so this has a good feeling to it by having options.

I wonder if this affects other ADOBE products, I use Open Office rather than WORD... but that's a topic for a different day.

Thank You All!!

[tomm2thumbs]

19. I even took the flash off my camera

bwahahahahah

j/k

[GreatGazoo]

29. I also got rid of the superhero and the weird guy in the raincoat.

[tomm2thumbs]

34. OMG Duzy!

[Bossy Monkey]

22. Already patched. Now, will that also be vulnerable? Maybe, but it's already patched. n/t

[SmittynMo]

23. What a pain

I too have been having major issues with flash. The code totally sucks. So I decided to remove flash from my PC (Windows 7). I already have Silverlight installed. The first two sights I hit were pogo.com and freespeech.org. Both were immediately flagged that flash was required, and would not proceed. I'm sure I'll run into this on other sites.

So if Silverlight is installed, and these sights specifically require flash, how does one get around this to get the site to work for the user?

[Marty McGraw]

43. personally on my home system

I kept with the Earlier 2000's version of ver. 9, I believe, and never update. Got suspicious when a new update was coming out every other week demanding to be upgraded.

Dixiegrrrrl's Post #39 is a real decent solution to only having what you want on a web page to be 'Flash Active' (Like your video window)

[a kennedy]

24. With the latest patch, is it ok to reinstall Adobe now?? thanks. eom

[snooper2]

25. I love scare articles :) - Smart folks read the actual release from Adobe

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsa15-05.html


UPDATE: Adobe expects updates to be available as early as October 16.

Affected software versions
Adobe Flash Player 19.0.0.207 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release version 18.0.0.252 and earlier 18.x versions
Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.535 and earlier 11.x versions for Linux

[RKP5637]

28. Thanks! Flash has surely had a rough time of it over the years. n/t

[onehandle]

32. It's an antiquated insecure technology that is rapidly disappearing from the Web.

Even Adobe wants it to fade away.

[C Moon]

31. It looks like Adobe has created a patch

How well it holds up, I don't know. But here's Adobe's link:
https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-27.html

Whoops. Someone else posted it above.

[RKP5637]

35. Thanks, just checked, I'm already up to date. n/t

[C Moon]

41. Cool. Me too now.

[bigwillq]

38. I really dislike Adobe (nt)

[RKP5637]

44. It seems like everything they do always has security problems. Adobe PDF Reader

has always been a headache. Then, they stopped supporting all Linux. Fortunately there are other tools now instead of Adobe. I updated Flash because I still have some stuff that needs it, but I disabled every option in Flash.