Just one day after Adobe released its monthly security patch, the company confirmed the discovery of a new security issue in Flash Player which can be found in all versions of the software in Windows, Mac and Linux-powered computers.
Adobe said that it will be releasing an out-of-cycle security patch next week to fix the newfound vulnerability in the software. The discovery of the bug was made earlier in the week by Trend Micro.
Adobe said that it is aware of the exploit for the discovered vulnerability, which is being utilized in limited and targeted attacks, with the company looking to release the update to fix the issue on Oct. 19.
Adobe said that a successful exploitation of the discovered vulnerability can cause a system to crash, and potentially allowing attackers to gain control of the affected computer. The company, however, did not respond to CNET's request for additional information on the security issue.
According to Trend Micro, the vulnerability that it discovered in Flash Player was already being utilized for phishing attacks that were being launched by Pawn Storm, a cyberespionage group, against several governments. Pawn Storm has been known to have launched attacks against different governments in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, in addition to the White House, United States media companies and NATO organizations.
Unfortunately, aside from waiting for the update that will be released next week, users have no other option to protect their systems from the exploit aside from uninstalling or deactivating Flash Player in their computers.
"2015 has been a very bad year for the Flash Player and given that a patch won't be available for several more days it is crucial to take immediate action to protect yourself," said Malwarebytes senior malware researcher Jerome Segura.
Adobe's Flash Player was once the standard plug-in for playing games, streaming video and delivering animation on websites through Internet browsers. However, the software has largely fallen out of favor among tech companies due to the myriad of issues that Adobe Flash has in terms of security. In addition, more players in the online video space are turning to HTML5, which could run graphics without the need for plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.
Update: It seems that Adobe has rushed to release a fix for the issue. Instead of having to wait until next week, users that use Adobe Flash Player heavily would be thankful to know that the patch has already been released through a new update for the software.
