Jun 11, 2010 Posted by Andrew on Jun 11, 2010

Critical Adobe flash update

If you’re not interested in why you need it, but just want to update. Scroll down to the guide!

It’s likely in this day and age that your internet browsing has ranged as far as youtube, the BBC iPlayer or many of the games found on Facebook such as Farmville. These sites use a technology called “Flash” from Adobe. Flash works with your browser to deliver you content from websites in the form of video, graphics, sound or text. Indeed some websites are constructed almost entirely from flash and you have probably seen some very pretty animated websites from fashion labels or photography companies that use it as standard. Suffice to say, presently Flash is very much a part of the internet landscape and it’s likely this issue will effect you directly.

Adobe has published a security bulletin for the software that is rated as “Critical”, which they define as “A vulnerability, which, if exploited would allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being aware.”. This applies to ALL users.

In summary:

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.45.2 and earlier. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions update to Adobe Flash Player 10.1.53.64. Adobe recommends users of Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier versions update to Adobe AIR 2.0.2.12610.

Adobe recommends all users of Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions upgrade to the newest version 10.1.53.64 by downloading it from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center or by using the auto-update mechanism within the product when prompted.

To address the vulnerabilities described in this Security Bulletin, a prerelease version of Flash Player 10.1 for Solaris platforms is available from Adobe Labs.

For users who cannot update to Flash Player 10.1.53.64, Adobe has developed a patched version of Flash Player 9, Flash Player 9.0.277.0, which can be downloaded from the following link.

How to – Update flash player

This is a very simple process and should only take 2 minutes of your time.

1) Click the following link to access the Adobe Download centre:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

2) You should see a screen similar to the following:

3) Click the “Agree and Install now button”.

4) This should take you to the following screen, detailed instructions for ensuring the installation proceeds can be seen on this page.

5) It’s important to click the yellow bar here or nothing will happen.

6) You may then be prompted by windows to confirm the installation, click “Allow” if you’re asked.

7) The Adobe download manager should start up and install flash for you:

Click close and you’re done!

Now you’ve done that, why not update your Adobe PDF reader! Recent security patches make this a very good idea. Click the image below to get updated. The procedure will be familiar after installing the updated flash player.

http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/