Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2018-15982

Flash Player

Adobe / Flash Player

Watch CVE-2018-15982 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
89.6%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2018-15982 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Adobe Flash Player. Flash Player versions 31.0.0.153 and earlier, and 31.0.0.108 and earlier have a use after free vulnerability. Successful exploitation...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

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 versions 31.0.0.153 and earlier, and 31.0.0.108 and earlier have a use after free vulnerability

Flash Player versions 31.0.0.153 and earlier, and 31.0.0.108 and earlier have a use after free vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.

View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
18 Jan 2019
Exploitation Reported
15 Feb 2022
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required

Tags

cisa ransomware malware

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15982
  • RHSA-2018:3795 access.redhat.com · Vendor Advisory https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3795
  • 46051 exploit-db.com · Exploit https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46051/
  • 106116 securityfocus.com · VDB Entry http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106116
  • helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb18-42.html helpx.adobe.com · CVE Record https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb18-42.html

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 15 Feb 2022

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 15 Feb 2022

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 05 Dec 2018

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 2022-02-15 00:00 UTC
CVE 2026-08-13 04:20 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.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

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

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

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

89.6%

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

Weaknesses

Use After Free CWE-416

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 10.0 High

AV:N/AC:L/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.

46051

cve · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 19:50 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 04:20 UTC

    KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  4. 00:00 UTC

    First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  5. 17:00 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  6. 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.

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  • 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-2018-15982

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2018-15982",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.89581,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}