Threats / Adobe / CVE-2018-15982
CVE-2018-15982
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Adobe Flash Player vulnerability
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player's TVSDK metadata handling allows remote code execution. Actively exploited in ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
Critical remote code execution via malformed media metadata. High exploitation prevalence with documented ransomware deployment. Immediate patching required for all Flash Player installations.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-02-154Ransomware use Flagged4EPSS 0.82456 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
14 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 2022-02-15), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.82456 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 1124 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
Craft malicious media file with corrupted TVSDK metadata to trigger memory corruption during parsing.
Business
Attacker gains arbitrary code execution in user browser context with Flash Player privileges.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
Execute payload to download and install ransomware executable on compromised system.
Business
Enterprise data encrypted and held for ransom; operational disruption and financial extortion.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
Distribute exploit via compromised websites, malvertising, or phishing with weaponized media files.
Business
Mass infection across user base; incident response costs and potential regulatory penalties for data exposure.
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