Adobe Flash Player Universal Cross-Site Scripting (UXSS) Vulnerability (CVE-2012-0767, CISA KEV)
Executive & SecOps Summary
SECOPS ASSESSMENTAdobe Flash Player before 10.3.183.15 and 11.x before 11.1.102.62 on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris; Android 2.x/3.x/4.x mobile versions
Remote attackers can bypass the Same-Origin Policy (SOP) via malicious Flash content, executing arbitrary scripts in the context of any website visited by the user to steal sessions and sensitive data
Since Adobe Flash Player has reached End-of-Life (EOL), it must be completely uninstalled from all systems, or disabled at the browser level in legacy environments
Affected Products & Version Scope
Remediation & Live Workaround Commands
PATCH & WORKAROUND1. Official Patch & Version Upgrade Commands
Because Adobe Flash Player is officially EOL, the recommended remediation is complete removal. Use the following commands to purge Flash Player from your systems.
# Completely purge Flash Player plugins on Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux systems
sudo apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-installer adobe-flashplugin
sudo apt-get autoremove# Query and remove legacy Adobe Flash packages on Windows via PowerShell
Get-WindowsPackage -Online | Where-Object {$_.PackageName -like '*Adobe-Flash-For-Windows*'} | Remove-WindowsPackage -Online -NoRestart2. Temporary Workaround & Hardening Configuration
If Flash cannot be immediately uninstalled due to legacy operational constraints, enforce browser policies to block Flash execution entirely.
# Disable Flash execution globally for Google Chrome / Chromium-based browsers via policy file
sudo mkdir -p /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed
echo '{ "DefaultPluginsSetting": 2, "PluginsAllowedForUrls": }' | sudo tee /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/block_flash.json3. Log Audit & IoC Verification Commands
Use the following script to scan for residual, vulnerable Flash Player shared libraries on Linux endpoints.
# Scan for residual Flash Player shared libraries and attempt to extract version strings
find /usr/lib /usr/lib64 /home -name 'libflashplayer.so' 2>/dev/null | while read -r flash_path; do
echo '[!] Flash Library Found:' "$flash_path"
strings "$flash_path" | grep -i 'LNX 11,' || echo '[*] Manual version verification required'
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Technical Root Cause & Exploitation Mechanics
1. Vulnerability Overview & Root Cause
CVE-2012-0767 is a critical Universal Cross-Site Scripting (UXSS) vulnerability within the scripting engine and browser integration of Adobe Flash Player. Unlike standard XSS, which targets specific flaws in web applications, a UXSS vulnerability exploits flaws in browser plugins or extensions to directly bypass the Same-Origin Policy (SOP). The root cause lies in Flash Player's failure to properly restrict and validate cross-domain boundaries when handling external inputs or specific API calls.
2. Exploitation Mechanics & Attack Scenario
An attacker hosts a specially crafted Shockwave Flash (.swf) file on a malicious website or distributes it via phishing campaigns. When a victim loads the malicious Flash object, the vulnerability triggers inside the Flash Player runtime, injecting arbitrary JavaScript into the browser's DOM. Because this bypasses the SOP, the injected script can access, read, and manipulate cookies, session tokens, and DOM contents of other active browser tabs or frames belonging to entirely different domains.
3. Infrastructure & Business Impact
This vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild in February 2012 and is cataloged in the CISA KEV list. In an enterprise environment, if an employee visits an untrusted site using a vulnerable Flash Player, attackers can hijack active sessions of critical internal business applications, leading to unauthorized data access, credential theft, and potential lateral movement within the corporate network.
Official Vendor Advisories & References
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 10.3.183.15 and 11.x before 11.1.102.62 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris; before 11.1.111.6 on Android 2.x and 3.x; and before 11.1.115.6 on Android 4.x allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors, aka "Universal XSS (UXSS)," as exploited in the wild in February 2012.
Frequently Asked SecOps Questions (CVE-2012-0767)
FAQQ1. How critical is CVE-2012-0767 and is it actively exploited in the wild?
CVE-2012-0767 is rated CVSS 6.1 (MEDIUM) with a 30-day EPSS exploitation probability of 6.2%. It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, requiring immediate emergency remediation.
Q2. Which vendors and products are affected by CVE-2012-0767?
Primary impacted vendors include adobe across flash_player. Scope summary: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris: Flash Player before 10.3.183.15, 11.x before 11.1.102.62 / Android 2.x, 3.x: before 11.1.111.6 / Android 4.x: before 11.1.115.6
Q3. What temporary mitigations or workarounds exist for CVE-2012-0767 before patching?
[Mitigation] Since Adobe Flash Player has reached End-of-Life (EOL), it must be completely uninstalled from all systems, or disabled at the browser level in legacy environments Follow the CLI remediation commands and interactive SecOps checklist on this page to restrict exposure prior to your maintenance window.
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