Adobe Issues Security Updates for Flash, Warns on Adobe Reader

By Geoff Duncan June 11, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Security problems don’t just impact operating systems and Web browsers: any software that has a broad user base is going to be targeted by cybercriminals and attacks. Now Adobe has released a large patch to deal with security problems in Flash Player designed to mitigate attacks already being used “in the wild” on the Internet, and is urging all users to update their software as soon as possible. However, Adobe Reader and Acrobat updates won’t be available until the end of the month—if they want protection, they’ll have to manually remove a DLL from their software installations.

The problems addressed by the updates impact Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris; Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux; and Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 9.x for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unux. (Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x aren’t impacted.) The update fixes some 32 vulnerabilities in Flash.

Adobe recommends users of Flash 10.0 update to Flash 10.1.53.64 from Adobe’s Flash Download Center; folks who can’t update to Flash 10.1 can also get a patched version of Flash Player 9.0.227.0.

Adobe expects to patch Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x by the end of June; in the meantime, users can mitigate the vulnerability by removing the AuthPlayLib.dll from the application; Adobe provides instructions for Mac OS X, WIndows, and Unix in a security bulletin. However, it must be noted that the Reader/Acrobat problem is already being exploited on the Internet, and folks who use the application would be well-advised not to wait until late June for an update from Adobe.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Photography

Adobe left millions of Creative Cloud user records exposed online

A hacker inputting code into a system.

Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers are being warned to keep a look out for phishing emails after it was discovered that data belonging to more than seven million accounts remained exposed online for about a week.

Adobe Creative Cloud is a suite of applications that subscribers pay a monthly fee to use. It includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Rush, Premier Pro, and Illustrator, among other software.

Mobile

Erase coffee stains and edit PDFs on the go with Adobe Scan, Acrobat updates

adobe scan acrobat dc edit pdfs mobile

Adobe Scan has a new tool -- and it's inspired by none other than Photoshop. In an update rolling out October 15, the mobile app Adobe Scan gains a new healing tool to remove imperfections with a brush of the finger. Updates to Acrobat and Document Cloud also include the option to edit PDFs from a smartphone.

Building on Adobe Scan’s existing tool that uses artificial intelligence to automatically clean up the document background, the new tool works similar to the healing brush inside Photoshop. Brushing over the imperfection marks the spot to remove, and the app uses the surrounding pixels to fill in the gap that’s left.

Computing

Warning: If you use an older Adobe app, don’t install MacOS Catalina

A MacBook Pro on a desk with the macOS Catalina operating system shown on its screen.

Apple launched its MacOS Catalina operating system on October 7, complete with lots of new features and improvements. However, if you're using an older version of any Adobe application, you might not want to install the operating system on your Mac at all.

The warning comes from Adobe, which now has a support page detailing the reasons why some of its apps might not work with MacOS Catalina. As we've warned before, the primary cause for the warning is the fact that MacOS Catalina does not support 32-bit applications. This means that some older Adobe applications still coded for 32-bit Macs will output an error when launched on a Mac device running MacOS Catalina.