Adobe Flash Player will cease to exist by the end of 2020, but until that day comes, Adobe will continue to provide the necessary support required by users. As of this writing, the latest stable version is 30.0.0.134, released on July 10, 2018. What exactly was included in this mid-year update?
According to the official release notes, the latest version includes important bug fixes and security updates. Let’s look at the specifics.
Fixed Issues
The July 10, 2018 Adobe Flash Player update features several security and functional fixes. No specifics were given in the release notes.
Security Enhancements
A few critical vulnerabilities were found with Adobe Flash Player 30.0.0.113 and earlier versions. The issues were classified as critical, meaning a successful exploitation of it could pose harm to users. Information on how dangerous the issues are were presented in a separate security bulletin.
One of the vulnerabilities, an “out-of-bounds read,” could have disclosed information and was tagged as Important in severity. On the other hand, a “type confusion” vulnerability was classified as Critical because it could lead to arbitrary code execution.
The critical vulnerabilities affected Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime, Adobe Flash Player for Google Chrome, and Adobe Flash Player for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.
New Features
The release notes for version 30.0.0.134 doesn’t mention any new features added.
Installation of New Version
Installing updates as soon as they drop is always recommended. Adobe also provides different ways for users to get the latest version.
- through the product’s own update mechanism
- through the Adobe Flash Player Download Center
- through the automatic update feature of Google Chrome (if using said browser)
- through the automatic update feature of Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1
Adobe Flash Player was truly one of the greatest technologies ever invented. Just because it will cease to exist in 2020 doesn’t mean you should stop updating the product. Keeping the product up-to-date helps keep your system safe.