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Participant
September 16, 2020
Answered

Will Flash Player continue to function post EOL date if no changes occur?

  • September 16, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 427 views

Did Adobe "bake-in" a "time bomb" to Flash Player to cause it to stop functioning post end-of-life date independent of any other factors?

 

The resource provided by Adobe:
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html

I am struggling to determine whether a product which is dependent-upon Flash Player and hosted on a company's internal server will continue to function post end-of-life date if no changes are made.

 

Changes that would NOT occur would include:

* Updates to the OS

* Updates to Flash Player.

* Updates to the Browser(s)

 

In a nut-shell:
Did Adobe "bake-in" a "time bomb" to Flash Player to cause it to stop functioning post end-of-life date independent of any other factors?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jeromiec83223024

After January 12th, Flash Player will only load content from URLs that you explicitly allow via AllowListUrlPattern directives in mms.cfg.  This will allow your internal application to continue to run (and reduce your attack surface), but your organization would then be running and dependent on unpatched and unsupported software.  You will not be able to browse the open web with Flash Player after January 12th.

 

Also, Microsoft will remove the version of Flash Player that they distributed as a bundled component on Windows 8 and higher in a future update (it's currently available as an optional update in their catalog, but it will eventually be required).  If you're dependent on the ActiveX version of Flash Player (or you rely on legacy desktop applications that depend on the ActiveX version being available on the system), you'll need to license a maintained version of Flash Player from HARMAN in order to get an installation that will work on those platforms.

 

Adobe has never shipped an installer for the ActiveX version of Flash Player on Windows 8 and higher, because Microsoft controls the installation path.  If you need an ActiveX installer for Win8+, you would need to license that from HARMAN, who offers a maintained, supported version of Flash Player for enterprise.

 

You can read more about HARMAN's support program and options specific to enterprise users in our Enterprise EOL FAQ, here:

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/enterprise-end-of-life.html

 

2 replies

jeromiec83223024
Inspiring
December 8, 2020

Also, the Enterprise Enablement section on pp. 28 of the admin guide should be helpful: 

https://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_player_admin_guide.html

jeromiec83223024
jeromiec83223024Correct answer
Inspiring
December 7, 2020

After January 12th, Flash Player will only load content from URLs that you explicitly allow via AllowListUrlPattern directives in mms.cfg.  This will allow your internal application to continue to run (and reduce your attack surface), but your organization would then be running and dependent on unpatched and unsupported software.  You will not be able to browse the open web with Flash Player after January 12th.

 

Also, Microsoft will remove the version of Flash Player that they distributed as a bundled component on Windows 8 and higher in a future update (it's currently available as an optional update in their catalog, but it will eventually be required).  If you're dependent on the ActiveX version of Flash Player (or you rely on legacy desktop applications that depend on the ActiveX version being available on the system), you'll need to license a maintained version of Flash Player from HARMAN in order to get an installation that will work on those platforms.

 

Adobe has never shipped an installer for the ActiveX version of Flash Player on Windows 8 and higher, because Microsoft controls the installation path.  If you need an ActiveX installer for Win8+, you would need to license that from HARMAN, who offers a maintained, supported version of Flash Player for enterprise.

 

You can read more about HARMAN's support program and options specific to enterprise users in our Enterprise EOL FAQ, here:

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/enterprise-end-of-life.html