Threats / Adobe / CVE-2016-7855
CVE-2016-7855
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Flash Player vulnerability
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player for Windows, OS X, and Linux enables remote code execution when processing malicious content.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A use-after-free flaw in Flash Player allows attackers to execute arbitrary code remotely by exploiting memory management errors. The vulnerability has been observed in active exploitation in the wild.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-034EPSS 0.25198 (verify live)5CVSS 8.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
7 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.25198 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 8.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Adobe, Flash Player. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1948 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious Flash file or web page embedding Flash content that triggers the use-after-free condition.
Business
Users visiting compromised or attacker-controlled websites face immediate risk of code execution on their systems.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the exploit through email attachments, drive-by downloads, or watering hole attacks targeting Flash users.
Business
Organizations lose visibility and control as endpoints execute arbitrary payloads without user awareness.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I gain code execution with the privileges of the user running the browser, establishing persistence or lateral movement.
Business
Attackers obtain initial access to corporate networks, enabling data theft, malware deployment, or further compromise.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05