Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2011-0609

Flash Player Denial of Service

Adobe / Flash Player

Watch CVE-2011-0609 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
63.5%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2011-0609 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Adobe Flash Player. Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.13 and earlier on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris; 10.1.106.16 and earlier...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV.

Who is affected?

Adobe / Flash Player.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Flash Player Denial of Service

Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.13 and earlier on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris; 10.1.106.16 and earlier on Android; Adobe AIR 2.5.1 and earlier; and Authplay.dll (aka AuthPlayLib.bundle) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x through 9.4.2 and 10.x through 10.0.1 on Windows and Mac OS X, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via crafted Flash content, as demonstrated by a .swf file embedded in an Excel spreadsheet, and as exploited in the wild in March 2011.

View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
15 Mar 2011
Exploitation Reported
08 Jun 2022
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required

Tags

metasploit cisa android linux windows macos

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-0609
  • SUSE-SR:2011:005 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-04/msg00000...
  • RHSA-2011:0372 redhat.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0372.html
  • 43751 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/43751
  • 43856 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/43856
  • VU#192052 kb.cert.org · Third-Party Advisory http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/192052
  • 43772 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/43772
  • 8152 securityreason.com · Third-Party Advisory http://securityreason.com/securityalert/8152
  • 43757 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/43757
  • 46860 securityfocus.com · VDB Entry http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/46860
  • ADV-2011-0732 vupen.com · VDB Entry http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0732
  • oval:org.mitre.oval:def:14147 oval.cisecurity.org · VDB Entry https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.m...
  • ADV-2011-0656 vupen.com · VDB Entry http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0656
  • 1025211 securitytracker.com · VDB Entry http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1025211
  • adobe-flash-authplay-ce(66078) exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com · VDB Entry https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/66078
  • ADV-2011-0655 vupen.com · VDB Entry http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0655
  • 1025210 securitytracker.com · VDB Entry http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1025210
  • 1025238 securitytracker.com · VDB Entry http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1025238
  • ADV-2011-0688 vupen.com · VDB Entry http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0688
  • googlechromereleases.blogspot.com/2011/03/stable-and-beta-channel-updates_15.html googlechromereleases.blogspot.com · CVE Record http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.com/2011/03/stable-and-beta-chan...
  • adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa11-01.html adobe.com · CVE Record http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa11-01.html
  • adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb11-06.html adobe.com · CVE Record http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb11-06.html
  • blogs.adobe.com/asset/2011/03/background-on-apsa11-01-patch-... blogs.adobe.com · CVE Record http://blogs.adobe.com/asset/2011/03/background-on-apsa11-01-patch-sc...

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 08 Jun 2022

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

Recorded 28 Apr 2025

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2022-06-08 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/windows/browser/adobe_flashplayer_avm.rb 28 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.8 High

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

63.5%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 7.8 High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 9.3 High

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

adobe_flashplayer_avm

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2011-0609

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 15:02 UTC

    Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  2. 15:02 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  4. 17:00 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2011-0609

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2011-0609",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.63507,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}