Lightweight Runtime
Adobe Flash Player is a client runtime program offering powerful user experiences for different operating systems and browser as well as for various mobile phones and other devices. It offers high performance and is a lightweight program. It is installed more than 850 million times on mobile devices and desktops. It allows individuals as well as organizations to build and offer the best digital experiences to end-users.
Recent Update
Adobe Systems recently released the 15.0.0.152 version for Windows and for the Mac, offering a slew of security fixes, addressing several vulnerabilities of the software program. A total of twelve flaws related to security have been addressed by the new update, including vulnerabilities related to memory leakage and other flaws leading to execution of the codes. The recent update was released on December 2014. It offers critical fixes related to security issues. Users who have enrolled with the Allow Adobe to Install Updates (Recommended) will receive updates automatically, whereas those who have opted for ‘Notify me’ to Install Updates, will receive the update notification within 7 days. As for Windows users, they have to restart the system or they can log out in order to receive the dialog showing the update notification.
Versions Affected
The new update affects several software versions, such as the Flash Player 14.0.0.179 as well as earlier versions, Flash Player 13.0.0.241 with earlier versions of 13.x, Flash Player 11.2.202.400. It also affects the earlier versions of Linus and AIR desktop version 14.0.0.178; Adobe AIR SDK, 14.0.0.178 along with earlier versions, Adobe AIR SDK and Compiler, 14.0.0.178 along with earlier versions, including Adobe AIR 14.0.0.179 with earlier Android versions.
What the Updates Resolves
According to the APSB 14 21, the security bulletin the vulnerabilities that are patched by this update are:
1. Vulnerabilities related to memory leakage, which can be used for bypassing randomization of memory address.
2. The updates also offer a solution for vulnerability related to security bypass.
3. The updates offer solutions for vulnerabilities related to use after free, which might lead to execution of codes.
4. The updates also offer solutions for memory corruption leading to execution of code.
5. They offer solutions for vulnerabilities leading to a bypass of the same origin policies.
6. The updates also offers solutions related to the vulnerabilities of heap buffer overflows, leading to code execution.
Issues that are fixed
The update ensures that Mac Chrome users no longer need users to reset the license files, while viewing a video that is content protected. Some stability issues related to the touch input have also been resolved. The longevity issue connected with DirectTV live streams using Web VTT captions has also been resolved.
Importance of Updating
If you are using Flash Player 14.0.0.179 or any other earlier version for the Mac, you should update to the new Flash Player 15.0.0.152, ASAP. In case you are using the Flash Player 11.2.202.400, or any previous version of Linus, you should update to the Flash Player versions 11.2.202.406. If you have an Adobe Flash Player, 14.0.0.145 that has been installed along with Google Chrome, it gets updated automatically to the latest Adobe Flash versions. If you are a user of Adobe AIR, 14.0.0.178 or users of previous versions for the Mac and Windows systems must also update to the latest Adobe AIR 15.0.0.249. As for users of the Adobe AIR, 14.0.0.179 or any other previous version for Android software, they must update to Adobe AIR, 15.0.0.252.
New Features
In the earlier versions for Stage 3D, when users switched the render texture in Context3D setRenderToTexture, they had to clear it prior to drawing. However, in the new release, this limitation has been removed and using render textures has been optimized. The change also allows users to optimize it further, so that they can reuse the stencil buffers and the depth for various render textures.
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