CVE-2016-1019

Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in April 2016.

CVSS: 9.8Critical
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 3 Mar 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 24 Mar 2022known use in ransomware campaigns
EPSS: 22.3%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 3% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 7 Apr 2016analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Can a WAF block it?: Partly. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

adobe:flash_player_desktop_runtime
adobe:flash_player
adobe:air_desktop_runtime
adobe:air_sdk
adobe:air_sdk_\&_compiler

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Partly. The bug can be reached over the network, so generic WAF rules may stop some attacks. Its weakness type is unknown, so we cannot be more precise.

Also consider: patch

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 3 Mar 2022. Known use in ransomware campaigns.
CISA due date: 24 Mar 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.
Public exploit code: None on record in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or PoC-in-GitHub.
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 1 Oct 2026 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Timeline

7 Apr 2016Published
3 Mar 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)2,156 days (about 6 years) later
24 Mar 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
1 Oct 2026CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active1,653 days (about 5 years) later
1 Oct 2026CVE record last updatedsame day later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com42 days later

CVSS vector

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

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2016-1019 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2016-1019 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2016-1019?

CVE-2016-1019 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2016-1019?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2016-1019. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2016-1019 affect?

CVE-2016-1019 affects adobe:flash_player_desktop_runtime, adobe:flash_player, adobe:air_desktop_runtime, adobe:air_sdk, and 1 further product or version. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

17 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Advisories (9)

security.gentoo.org /glsa/201606-08
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00012.html
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00010.html
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00044.html
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00009.html
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00045.html

Show 3 more

lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00055.html
rhn.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2016-0610.html
docs.microsoft.com /en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-050

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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