Apple Once Again Blocks Older Versions of Adobe Flash Player Due to Vulnerability

[MacRumors]

Last week Adobe issued a security advisory for Flash Player, indicating that version 21.0.0.242 and earlier had a critical vulnerability that could potentially cause a crash and allow an attacker to take control of the infected system. Adobe issued a fix a couple days later.

Apple today published a support document explaining that users with out-of-date versions of the Adobe Flash Player plug-ins will see a "Blocked plug-in," "Flash Security Alert," or "Flash out-of-date" message when attempting to view Flash content in Safari.

Plug-ins like Adobe Flash Player have long been an issue for Apple, requiring forced updates and security fixes to patch vulnerabilities. When vulnerabilities arise, Apple has been consistent in blocking older versions of the web plug-ins. Apple is looking to reduce the risk of potential issues with macOS Sierra, in which Safari will deactivate Flash Player and other plug-ins by default in an effort to push the more modern HTML5.

To continue using Flash, users must download the latest Adobe Flash Player update from Adobe's website.

Article Link: Apple Once Again Blocks Older Versions of Adobe Flash Player Due to Vulnerability

 

[benjitek]

It'll be a great day when Flash is shuttered...

 

[tomnavratil]

Flash should just be removed forever ASAP.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Oh, for God's sake, everyone uninstall Flash now. Use Google Chrome for the small amount of noob sites that use it.

 

[canadianreader]

Did not use it in years and good riddance

 

[Zirel]

Flash should just be removed forever ASAP.

For me, it is.

Not installed, using Google Chrome for laggard sites.

 

[Glee217]

Tntwatch req flash so is there another way around this?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Strange, but even selecting "Allow Adobe to install updates" in the Flash System Preference pane does not result in automatic updates, or even a notification of an out of date version. I had version 21.0.0.242 installed; the current version is 22.0.0.192 and I was not notified that the install was out of date. Hmm.

 

[stiligFox]

Ugh, I need Flash for my school software, I hope I'll be able to download it over school wifi tomorrow...

 

[JoeG4]

I can't wait to see the Mac Pro end up on the vintage hardware list before it gets an update
Ahahahahahaha

 

[tywebb13]

I was not notified that the install was out of date. Hmm.

It could be that you did not get the new xprotect.

It is supposed to update automatically but often doesn't. You can install it manually;

For systems older than 10.11:
http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...huh01naxfzbl4ijud/XProtectPlistConfigData.pkg

For 10.11 or 10.12 :
http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...g4ugc1pfhgwi/XProtectPlistConfigData_1011.pkg

This is the software which blocks out of date flash - and java - and a whole heap of other nasties.

 

[MacLoverUK]

Oh, or God's sake, everyone uninstall Flash now. Use Google Chrome for the small amount of noob sites that use it.

Agreed. It's been more than 3 years since I stripped Adobe Flash from my Macs - won't have that trash on my computers.

 

[Dilster3k]

Apple to Adobe:

 

[Ralf The Dog]

It's not the sites themselves. It is the adds that run on the sites.

Edited to say, Flash is not that bad, if you run it in a virtualized instance that has no access to the host OS... That and you have no other choice to run it... That and you burn your computer afterwords.

 

[one more]

Steve Job's thoughts on Flash, dated April 2010. Six years on, still valid:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

 

[Glassed Silver]

Strange, but even selecting "Allow Adobe to install updates" in the Flash System Preference pane does not result in automatic updates, or even a notification of an out of date version. I had version 21.0.0.242 installed; the current version is 22.0.0.192 and I was not notified that the install was out of date. Hmm.

This **** has being going on forever.

Eventually I joined the dark side and uninstalled Flash and whenever I need it, I just use Chrome.
Chrome updates the Pepper plugin (Flash for Chrome-based browsers) automatically along with itself in the background.
It's a real joy to finally stop worrying about your Flash install and just use it whenever necessary through a second browser.

I still have Adobe Air on my Mac, although I don't even remember which of my applications need it as I have quite a lot of applications.

I'd love to uninstall Air, but I don't even know whether this will uninstall the applications that are Air-based along with it or if I will just get a prompt to install Air when I try to launch them.
Maybe they will fail to load and not tell me about Air and I'll be stuck wondering whether it's just a regular app crash or Air missing.
Sure, googling would help me find out, but what I really want is a way to quickly see whatever app is on my Mac that needs Air.

Is there a tool that could help me with that or a config file somewhere that mentions my Air applications?

I'd love to finally be 100%-Adobe-free. (save for Pepper of course)

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[jlc1978]

Now if they would just block those annoying CNN videos that autoplay ...

 

[MacHiavelli]

I dumped Flash and Chrome after reading this…

https://briarkitesme.com/2015/01/26/how-to-nuke-adobe-flash-but-still-access-content/

 

[ike1707]

For me, it is.

Not installed, using Google Chrome for laggard sites.

This is really the only way to go now.

 

[theonekcrow]

This is why I use Chrome as a Flash Jail. I use Safari for all other browsing.

 

[IJ Reilly]

It could be that you did not get the new xprotect.

It is supposed to update automatically but often doesn't. You can install it manually;

For systems older than 10.11:
http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...huh01naxfzbl4ijud/XProtectPlistConfigData.pkg

For 10.11 or 10.12 :
http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...g4ugc1pfhgwi/XProtectPlistConfigData_1011.pkg

This is the software which blocks out of date flash - and java - and a whole heap of other nasties.

That is supposed to happen automagically too. But the point is, I set my Flash update preferences to automatic, but to my knowledge, it has always required manual updating. Without getting into the tech politics, if this thing is going to be resident on my Macs, and be a recurring vulnerability, and I've told it to update itself, then that bloody well should happen.

 

[manu chao]

Strange, but even selecting "Allow Adobe to install updates" in the Flash System Preference pane does not result in automatic updates, or even a notification of an out of date version. I had version 21.0.0.242 installed; the current version is 22.0.0.192 and I was not notified that the install was out of date. Hmm.

Same for me, something is wrong here.

 

[darmr]

Thanks guys, good read. Flash now uninstalled

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Going back to Safari also as well as Firefox/vivaldi.