ID: IRCNE2011061151
Date: 2011-06-21
"ComputerWorld" reports that hackers are aggressively exploiting a just-patched Flash vulnerability, serving attack code "on a fairly large scale" from compromised sites as well as from their own malicious domains, a security researcher with the Shadowserver Foundation, a volunteer-run group that tracks vulnerabilities and botnets said Friday. The attacks exploit the critical Flash Player bug that Adobe patched June 14 with its second "out-of-band," or emergency update.
Attackers are also using the exploit in "spear phishing" attacks aimed at specific individuals, said Adair on the Shadowserver site. Adair called the attacks "nasty" because the exploit "happens seamlessly in the background," giving victims no clue that their systems have been compromised.
When Adobe patched the vulnerability last week, it conceded that exploits were already in use.
Adair also said there's been an increase in Flash-based attacks especially so in the last three months. According to Adair, the exploit of CVE-2011-2110 has been in use since June 9, five days before Adobe issued its latest security update. Adair urged everyone to keep Flash Player up-to-date.
Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy, said Adobe has focused on getting patches out quickly. "If there are attacks in the wild, there will be lots of blog posts analyzing the vulnerability and exploit," said Arkin. "The information migrates from the high end to the low end very quickly. So we squash the debate by fixing it."
The newest version of Flash Player can be downloaded from Adobe's Web site.
Related Links:
Adobe serious update
- 2