CVE-2014-8439: Adobe Flash Player and AIR invalid pointer dereference code execution

Automated analysis

Generated by VULONE's analysis model from the NVD record, CISA KEV and EPSS data on 17 September 2026. Confidence: high.

high priorityCVSS 8.8 and KEV listing with known exploitation, but the affected products are end-of-life and user interaction is required, lowering practical exposure for patched or removed environments.

What it is

Adobe Flash Player, AIR, AIR SDK and AIR SDK & Compiler contain an invalid pointer dereference flaw, classified as a memory buffer overflow and use-after-free, that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service. The issue affects Flash Player before 13.0.0.258 and 14.x/15.x before 15.0.0.239 on Windows and OS X, before 11.2.202.424 on Linux, and the corresponding AIR and SDK builds. Because the affected products are end-of-life, any remaining deployment carries unpatched risk.

Impact

An attacker can execute arbitrary code in the context of the affected process or crash it, giving full compromise of confidentiality, integrity and availability per the CVSS vector. No privilege escalation beyond the running user is described.

Attack surface

The CVSS vector is network-reachable with low complexity and no privileges, but requires user interaction (UI:R), consistent with a victim loading crafted content in Flash Player or AIR. No authentication is needed on the attacker side.

Exploitation

CVE-2014-8439 is listed in CISA KEV (added 2022-05-25), indicating known exploitation in the wild; EPSS 30-day probability is about 0.20 (97th percentile). References are vendor advisories and third-party trackers, with no public exploit tag in the record.

What to do

• Patch to the fixed versions listed in Adobe advisories APSB14-22 and APSB14-26, or remove the product entirely.
• Disconnect or uninstall end-of-life Flash Player, AIR and AIR SDK builds, as CISA's required action states.
• Block Flash content at the browser and email gateway, and disable the Flash plugin where it cannot be removed.
• Apply the referenced Linux distribution errata (openSUSE, Red Hat) if the packages are still installed.
• Restrict outbound and inbound network paths that deliver Flash or AIR content to reduce exposure.

Detection

• Monitor for Flash Player or AIR process crashes consistent with invalid pointer dereference, especially following web or document content.
• Hunt for child processes spawned by Flash Player, AIR or browser plugin hosts, which can indicate code execution.
• Alert on Flash or SWF content reaching endpoints from untrusted sources via email or web proxies.
• Review EDR telemetry for exploitation attempts against hosts still running the affected versions.

This assessment is produced automatically and is not human-reviewed. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting on it.