Adobe Flash Player versions 15.0.0.152 has been released by Adobe Systems. Adobe Flash Player is a cross-platform browser-based application runtime that is required for viewing of certain applications, content, and videos.
- Failing to call Context3D.clear before drawing on every frame no longer throws a runtime error (3726980)
- Sound.loadPCMFromByteArray now returns a valid Sound object (3104536, 3707118)
- Firefox will now retain focus when Flash Player processes are launched (3223393)
- Chrome Hardware Video Decoding is now on by default on Windows (3773054)
- IE 10+ – Resolves an ExternalInterface problem affecting some content. Internet Explorer is now identified using the Document Mode and not by looking for ‘MSIE’ in the User-Agent (3774298)
- IE 10+ – The “Save As Type” field is correctly populated when invoking FileReference.download() using Internet Explorer in Enhanced Protected Mode (3795477)
- Invoking password input during Full-Screen Interactive mode will no longer leave the IME disabled (3767785)
- Win8.x – Flash content now scales dynamically when the zoom factor in Internet Explorer changes (3758981)
- Win8.x – Premium content using the Adobe Video Engine will now prevent the screen from turning off in full-screen mode (3774297)
- Win8.x – Flash content will be pre-rotated for portrait first devices with Multiplane Overlay support, saving power and CPU cycles. (3767662)
- Win8.x – Chrome flash.globalization.String now works as expected (3679539)
- Win8.x – Multitouch and Gesture events now as expected on devices that support multitouch (3766322)
- Win8.x – Resolves a stability issue introduced by Microsoft KB2942844 (3772321)
- Windows – Saved files with names longer than 2083 characters will no longer be discarded, and the names will be truncated to fit (3745055)
- Windows – Resolves an issue where indexing vertex constants caused rendering artifacts on systems with DirectX 9 (3801664)
- Multiple security and stability fixes
- Relaxing Stage3D Render Target Clear
In previous versions of Stage3D, after switching the render texture through Context3D::setRenderToTexture, you were required to clear it before drawing. In this release, we’re removing this limitation and optimizing the use of render textures. This change will allow you to further optimize and reuse depth and stencil buffers between different render textures. For additional information, please see Relaxing Render Target Clear Operation in Stage 3D.
- Improved support for browser zoom levels – Windows 8
Flash Player now has improved support for browser zoom factors other than 100% on Internet Explorer on Windows 8.x. Devices, like the Microsoft Surface tablets, default to a zoom level of 150%. In the past, this could cause problems with Flash Player and some 3D content. With our new implementation, we can now scale the content and 3D buffers to keep everything aligned. In addition, Flash Player introduces an option to render to an increased Stage3D back buffer, rather than scaling, on browser zoom to keep the resolution of the rendered content high. This option allows to the stage3D buffer to change in size in synch with the change in the browser zoom factor. Developers are notified of this change with a new ZOOM_FACTOR_CHANGE event.
- Flash Player Fullscreen Orientation Change – Windows
Flash Player will now detect and appropriately scale your content to fit best in a fullscreen display when your device orientation is changed. This change is specific to Windows and is implemented across all browsers. We’re focusing on providing the best tablet experience possible. A resize event will fire when in fullscreen mode and the device orientation changes. Developers, if your content does not resize, you will need to handle the resize event appropriately. For additional details, please see the Guide for Supporting Screen Orientation with Full-Screen Flash Player Content.
- Hardware video decoding on Chrome (PPAPI) for Windows
We’re pleased to announce that hardware video decoding is now enabled by default for Chrome users on Windows. This feature will drastically reduce the CPU usage and improve performance on supported videos players. We’re working closely with Google to bring this feature to OS X and will provide additional details when available.
- Automatic software fall back with StageVideo
Flash Player 15 now supports a Software version of StageVideo that provides an automatic failover to the software version when hardware StageVideo is not available. To leverage this automatic failover, the swf apps need to be compiled for Flash Player 15 and above.
When the swfs are compiled for Flash Player 15 and above, and when hardware StageVideo is unavailable, the app will get a StageVideoAvailability event as earlier, but instead of being “Unavailable” it will ALWAYS be “available”, and the reason will always be “noError”. The app will no longer need to implement a Video object failover as the failover is automatic inside flash player. The apps can still choose to use Video object instead of StageVIdeo if needed.
Hardware StageVideo availability is dependent on a number of factors, including:
Browser hardware rendering support: If available, all wMode based apps will support hardware StageVideo. If not available, wMode=direct based apps will be the only ones that will support hardware StageVideo, unless there are other exceptions, like the ones mentioned below.
On Windows:
IE11: IE has an accelerated pipeline and the FlashPlayer is HW accelerated in all wmode, so StageVideo should always be available. Note that the decision to use the HW accelerate rendering pipeline reside in IE.
Firefox: There is currently no HW accelerated pipeline available in Firefox on windows and only wMode direct will have StageVideo available all other wMode should generate a unavailable event.
Chrome: Pepper has HW acceleration in all wMode, but some restrictions apply. For example Chrome will refuse to use HW acceleration on Windows XP and it has its own driver blacklisting mechanism. It is also possible for the user to disable the HW acceleration in the settings panel. Chrome exposes a somewhat useful page to allow one to see the status of its gpu acceleration: chrome://gpu/
Driver version: Certain older drivers may not support hardware StageVideo
User settings: If a user turns off hardware acceleration, then hardware StageVideo will not be available
Full Screen: Hardware StageVIdeo is always available in Full Screen mode.
When the hardware StageVideo fails because of browser support, wMode, driver version or user settings, starting with Flash Player 15, SW StageVideo will be used automatically without needing any configuration or code in the app.
Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player for Windows. These updates address vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Adobe recommends users update their product installations to the latest versions:
- Users of the Adobe Flash Player desktop runtime for Windows should update to Adobe Flash Player 15.0.0.152.
- Adobe Flash Player installed with Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 10 and Internet Explorer 11 will be automatically updated to the current version.
These updates resolve memory leakage vulnerabilities that could be used to bypass memory address randomization (CVE-2014-0557).
These updates resolve a security bypass vulnerability (CVE-2014-0554).
These updates resolve a use-after-free vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2014-0553).
These updates resolve memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2014-0547, CVE-2014-0549, CVE-2014-0550, CVE-2014-0551, CVE-2014-0552, CVE-2014-0555).
These updates resolve a vulnerability that could be used to bypass the same origin policy (CVE-2014-0548).
These updates resolve a heap buffer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2014-0556, CVE-2014-0559).
Adobe Flash Player is one of the applications that is managed and updated by ODS. If you are a current customer, ODS will automatically update your version of Adobe Flash Player over the next few days. ODS will deploy both the ActiveX version and the Plugin version. This ensures that Adobe Flash Player will function with web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. The update will install silently. No user interaction is required. There are no additional fees or charges for ODS to update your version of Adobe Flash Player.
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