CVE-2018-4878

Exp

A use-after-free vulnerability was discovered in Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161. This vulnerability occurs due to a dangling pointer in the Primetime SDK related to media player handling of listener objects. A successful attack can lead to arbitrary code execution. This was exploited in the wild in January and February 2018.

Published: 2018-02-06 Last update: 2025-11-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-4878 is rated Critical Active Threat (91.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 93.51%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting Adobe / Flash Player. a weakness (CWE-416) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2018-4878

Name: Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2022-05-03

Required action: The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2018-4878

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
44412 exploit_db edb 2018-04-06 Exploit-DB ↗
44744 exploit_db edb 2016-02-16 Exploit-DB ↗
44745 exploit_db edb 2016-02-13 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-4878

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-07 93.56% 93.51% -0.05%
2 2026-04-04 93.36% 93.56% +0.20%
3 2026-03-18 — 93.36% —

Full EPSS history (30 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-4878

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-4878

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-4878

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2018-4878: 1 GLSA(s) (201803-08), 1 atom(s) (www-plugins/adobe-flash); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-4878
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-4878
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-4878 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (adobe-flashplugin, flashplugin-nonfree), 8 status rows across 4 suites (artful, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-4878

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-4878

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
adobe flash_player < 28.0.0.161 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:flash_player:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adobe flash_player < 28.0.0.161 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:flash_player:*:*:*:*:*:edge:*:*
adobe flash_player < 28.0.0.161 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:flash_player:*:*:*:*:*:internet_explorer_11:*:*
adobe flash_player < 28.0.0.161 cpe:2.3:a:adobe:flash_player:*:*:*:*:*:chrome:*:*

References for CVE-2018-4878

URL Tags
http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/02/group-123-goes-wild.html Technical Description Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102893 Broken Link
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040318 Broken Link
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:0285 Third Party Advisory
https://blog.morphisec.com/flash-exploit-cve-2018-4878-spotted-in-the-wild-massive-malspam-campaign Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/InQuest/malware-samples/tree/master/CVE-2018-4878-Adobe-Flash-DRM-UAF-0day Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/vysec/CVE-2018-4878 Third Party Advisory
https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb18-03.html Vendor Advisory
https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/hackers-bypassed-adobe-flash-protection-mechanism/ Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://threatpost.com/adobe-flash-player-zero-day-spotted-in-the-wild/129742/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/adobe-flash-vulnerability-reappears-in-malicious-word-files/d/d-id/1331139 Press/Media Coverage Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44412/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2018/02/attacks-leveraging-adobe-zero-day.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/vulnerabilities-and-exploits/north-korean-hackers-allegedly-exploit-adobe-flash-player-vulnerability-cve-2018-4878-against-south-korean-targets Technical Description Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/cisagov/vulnrichment/issues/196 Issue Tracking
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-4878 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence