CVE-2016-0984 — Adobe Flash Player and AIR Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.329 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.306 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.569 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 20.0.0.260, Adobe AIR SDK before 20.0.0.260, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 20.0.0.260 allows a

01What is this vulnerability?

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 18.0.0.329 and 19.x and 20.x before 20.0.0.306 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.569 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 20.0.0.260, Adobe AIR SDK before 20.0.0.260, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 20.0.0.260 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-0973, CVE-2016-0974…

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
n	a / n/a	n/a

03Active exploitation status

Yes — actively exploited. Added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2022-05-25. Ransomware use: Unknown.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Open the Sigma generator with a pre-filled prompt for this CVE to draft a starting detection in your stack of choice:

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07Related CVEs

08Timeline

• Published: 2016-02-10T20:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-10-21T23:55:55.589Z
• Added to CISA KEV: 2022-05-25
• BOD 22-01 due: 2022-06-15

09References

• www.exploit-db.com — https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39462/
• lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00027.html
• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1034970
• security.gentoo.org — https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201603-07
• rhn.redhat.com — http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0166.html
• lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00030.html
• lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00029.html
• helpx.adobe.com — https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb16-04.html
• lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00025.html