How severe is CVE-2016-7855?

CVE-2016-7855 has a CVSS score of 8.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2016-7855?

Affected package information for CVE-2016-7855 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2016-7855?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2016-7855 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2016-7855 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2016-7855, including 3 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2016-7855?

CVE-2016-7855 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 59.0%, placing it in the 98th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2016-7855 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2016-7855 (Adobe Flash Player Use-After-Free Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-03-03. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-03-24. The required action was: The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2016-7855?

CVE-2016-7855 is classified as Use After Free (CWE-416). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2016-7855?

CVE-2016-7855 affects adobe flash player; redhat enterprise linux desktop (2 versions, e.g. 5.0, 6.0); redhat enterprise linux server (2 versions, e.g. 5.0, 6.0); redhat enterprise linux workstation (2 versions, e.g. 5.0, 6.0). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2016-7855 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2016-7855 was published on November 1, 2016 and was last updated on April 21, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2022-03-03 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-03-24

CVE-2016-7855

HIGH

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.643 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified…

Published

Nov 1, 2016

Updated

Apr 21, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

3 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

59.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

High Risk98th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.643 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in October 2016.

Affected Products

4 products · 11 configurations

Application

flash playeradobe

≤ 23.0.0.185

range

enterprise linux desktopredhat

2 versions

5.06.0

enterprise linux serverredhat

2 versions

5.06.0

enterprise linux workstationredhat

2 versions

5.06.0

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on …

helpx.adobe.comGoogle-sheetOct 2016

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on …

nvd.nist.govNVDMay 2019

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 23.0.0.205 on …

cisa.govCISAMar 2022

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2016-7855 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2016-7855 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

8.8/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Network

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

None

UI:User Interaction

Required

S:Scope

Unchanged

C:Confidentiality

High

I:Integrity

High

A:Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-416Use After Free

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

Timeline

First exploit

Oct 21, 2016

Disclosed

Nov 1, 2016

KEV added

Mar 3, 2022

Last updated

Apr 21, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2016-7855

References

Advisoryrhn.redhat.com Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Advisorysecurity.gentoo.org Advisorysecurity.googleblog.com Advisoryrhn.redhat.com Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Advisorysecurity.gentoo.org Advisorysecurity.googleblog.com Fixdocs.microsoft.com Fixhelpx.adobe.com Fixdocs.microsoft.com Fixhelpx.adobe.com Webcisa.gov

Data from OSV.dev, enriched by O3 Security. Refreshed hourly.