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Warning! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue .... Virus?

G

gregsmith

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 14, 2013
2
0
Recently almost every time I try to open google, facebook or youtube I am diverted to a page which displays this message "WARNING! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue" in a pop up. The website I am diverted to looks like a the flash player website but is obviously fake. I stupidly clicked download and tried to install the download.

(I am using Mac OS X version 10.6.8, running on Safari) When I tried to install it it opened up in text edit with loads of nonsense. I tried searching with ClamXav and many other Virus Searchers. I have tried restarting Safari. Deleting Cache. All Extensions turned off or uninstalled. I tried DNSChanger Removal Tool and Kapersky Flashfake Removal Tool.

So far I have not managed to get rid of the problem. How to I get rid of the potential phising/malware I have downloaded and correct my Safari?

I then completely re-installed Mac OS X on my laptop using the installation discs. I completely erased my whole hard drive and any partitions.

I ran Software Update and downloaded the latest Flash player from the real website.

I then had to restart my mac because of the software up dates....

Once restarted I see this first message pop up on my desktop saying "Adobe flash player is out of date. The version of Adobe flash player on your system does not include the latest security updates and has been disabled. To continue using flash player, download an updated version from adobe's website." with an option to "download flash" or "Cancel" so I click cancel.

I then install the real flash player which had been downloaded from the official site....

I then opened up safari and within 30 seconds of use the same 'Flash player pro' message popped up when I tried to go to google.com :mad:

I am completely stumped?!?! :confused: How is this affecting me after a completely new installation and wiped Hard drive?

Could this be something to do with my internet router?
I have a desktop PC at home also and yesterday 'once' something similar appeared talking about ' flash player pro'. But only once.

Thank you so much for any help ...
 
download from adobe website, keep it up to date.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
Recent updates were released, apple forced one of them.
 
gregsmith said:
Recently almost every time I try to open google, facebook or youtube I am diverted to a page which displays this message "WARNING! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue" in a pop up. The website I am diverted to looks like a the flash player website but is obviously fake. I stupidly clicked download and tried to install the download.

(I am using Mac OS X version 10.6.8, running on Safari) When I tried to install it it opened up in text edit with loads of nonsense. I tried searching with ClamXav and many other Virus Searchers. I have tried restarting Safari. Deleting Cache. All Extensions turned off or uninstalled. I tried DNSChanger Removal Tool and Kapersky Flashfake Removal Tool.

So far I have not managed to get rid of the problem. How to I get rid of the potential phising/malware I have downloaded and correct my Safari?

I then completely re-installed Mac OS X on my laptop using the installation discs. I completely erased my whole hard drive and any partitions.

I ran Software Update and downloaded the latest Flash player from the real website.

I then had to restart my mac because of the software up dates....

Once restarted I see this first message pop up on my desktop saying "Adobe flash player is out of date. The version of Adobe flash player on your system does not include the latest security updates and has been disabled. To continue using flash player, download an updated version from adobe's website." with an option to "download flash" or "Cancel" so I click cancel.

I then install the real flash player which had been downloaded from the official site....

I then opened up safari and within 30 seconds of use the same 'Flash player pro' message popped up when I tried to go to google.com :mad:

I am completely stumped?!?! :confused: How is this affecting me after a completely new installation and wiped Hard drive?

Could this be something to do with my internet router?
I have a desktop PC at home also and yesterday 'once' something similar appeared talking about ' flash player pro'. But only once.

Thank you so much for any help ...
Click to expand...

After all those draconian measures, anyone would be a little more than peeved to again see that @#$%^&* message. Welcome to the exciting world of Flash, the real "bag of hurt". See also SJ's early 2010 open letter to Adobe: "Thoughts on Flash". http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

What I hate most about it, is that unless you have enabled automatic updates, which I haven't, when those frequent updates come, your flash player is unusable until you do the update. Adobe seems to be permanently preoccupied with plugging security vulnerabilities. Flash might need a whole new re-write from the ground up, if it ever hopes to become more secure, and less annoyingly functional.

But I don't think that's going to happen, and I can't wait until more and more sites are going to switch to HTML5. Sorry Adobe, Flash hasn't adapted to the mobile revolution, and doesn't measure up to today's standards for desktops either.
 
Someone emailed me this

I'm very sorry to bother you (I simply picked your name from the list of staff contacts on the Mac Rumours homepage so my apologies if I should have emailed someone else. A few days ago I was searching the net for help with an issue I was experiencing which is virtually identical to that described here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1714732/

except, rather crucially, for the fact that I'm a PC user. As I don't have a Mac there isn't much point me registering on the forums of course but I thought that I would pass on what I did to solve the problem and then, if you were feeling philanthropic, you might post it or PM the user who is having difficulties and mention it to them. Unlike your forum user, I didn't install the update from the spam site so I can't comment on how easy or not that is to remove but the site hijacking (for me it was only Google that caused these issues-every time I attempted to access it I got the waning about Flash player etc.) is easy to sort out in my experience. I found a post on another forum that solved it for me. You need to uninstall and then reinstall your router and then change the access password to it. That should, fingers crossed, sort out the issue. Apparently 300,000 routers were attacked worldwide between the 4th and 7th of March through some sort of loophole that allows malware to change your router password. To see if this is the same issue I experienced, try to log on to your router and see if the password has been changed to something other than that which you selected. If that is the case then this should sort it out.
Click to expand...

Can't vouch for it, but worth checking out
 
[[ Recently almost every time I try to open google, facebook or youtube I am diverted to a page which displays this message "WARNING! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue" in a pop up. The website I am diverted to looks like a the flash player website but is obviously fake. I stupidly clicked download and tried to install the download. ]]

Here is how I would suggest dealing with this in the future.

Whenever you get a "warning" like this, dismiss it WITHOUT "accepting the install".

I would suggest you close your browser and all other applications.

Now, open System Preferences and click on the "Flash Player" tab.

Click on "Advanced".

Down where it says "Updates", click the "check now" button.

You will either get a window that says flash player is up to date, or
A window that says an update is available.

So... choose to update this way.

The Flash installer will download and install the update, and at the end of the process, it will offer you a choice (and you'll also have to re-enter your administrative password):
- Allow Adobe to install updates
- Notify me to install updates
- Never check for updates

I recommend that you choose option #2.

I don't like ANYTHING installing updates "behind my back", and that goes for Apple's software update as well.

If there's an update, I don't mind being notified, BUT, afterwards I will do the update MANUALLY, at my own discretion...
 
Just stop using sites that won't use HTML5, the sooner you do the quicker they get the message and drop flash. If you can't be assed then why should they ;)
 
Hi, I've joined up to add some input on this as i have dealt with this a few times now.

chances are it's not your macbook at all, i would be looking at the router!

I have been called out on 2 occasions where all devices are doing this and it turned out the router had been hacked and all traffic directed though the DNS of a rogue server.

one way to check is to ping google.co.uk, the ip should be 173.194.34.152, if it's not then the chances are your router has been compromised.

The 2 routers in question were both TP-Link routers, one of which i had supplied and setup myself. I had (perhaps foolishly) left the default login as admin/admin and this had also been changed to stop me accessing.

A factory reset sorted things out and i made sure i had changed the default login and turned OFF remote administration.

hopefully this will be of help to people

Ian
 
From the email that arn received the implication is that the router's password is changed?

If that's the case, simply checking it by logging in to your router should confirm that you have not been compromised?

I know I haven't but it could be a quick check if it's true.....IE: if you can access your router via your usual password you are okay?

Somebody should be able to confirm this.
 
Macman45 said:
From the email that arn received the implication is that the router's password is changed?

If that's the case, simply checking it by logging in to your router should confirm that you have not been compromised?

I know I haven't but it could be a quick check if it's true.....IE: if you can access your router via your usual password you are okay?

Somebody should be able to confirm this.
Click to expand...

In some cases router password was changed as i have read online by some other victims but some still have their passwords working, but trut me if you ever get that pop-up window asking you to update your adobe flash player when you try to visit sites like facebook, youtube, google then you were attacked too, i did a lot of research on this to have come up with this conclusion
 
It affects your Router not your computer

I faced the same problem 2 days back. I use windows. I also format my lappie twice. But when I tried to access other devices connected to router I got same issue.

Finally I changed my router DNS automatic to static. and its working perfectly fine now. Or you can also reset your router. I didn't do it as I am using IPTV and
I don't know its settings.

Thanks
 
Yes. Ignore any email/pages/links for Flash updates. Go To Adobe's site directly if you want to verify you are running the latest version.
 
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