Adobe Systems has released an update to its Flash Player software that fixes a “critical” security vulnerability that could allow a hacker to take control of a user’s computer system.
The new Flash Player 10.1 update package, available here, provides 32 bug fixes, altogether. The company said it would provide new releases of its Reader and Acrobat applications by the end of June that incorporate the changes.
Last week Adobe issued a security advisory warning of the security vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris operating systems.
The advisory said the flaw “could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat.”
In the past year Adobe Flash Player and Reader have become prime targets for hackers looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. Adobe estimates that 95 percent of all computers worldwide have Flash Player installed.
Security fixes aside, the Flash Player 10.1 is a major upgrade of the software that includes significant changes to the application’s architecture, according to Paul Betlem, a member of Adobe’s Flash Player engineering team, quoted in a BBC News story.
