Adobe® fixes serious security bugs and drops support for AMD64
Adobe® has published the version 10.1 of its Flash player. The update fixes dozens of very serious security problems. All version prior to 10.1 will execute attacker's code on the local computer. The full list of security-related bugs is here: CVE-2008-4546, CVE-2009-3793, CVE-2010-1297, CVE-2010-2160, CVE-2010-2161, CVE-2010-2162, CVE-2010-2163, CVE-2010-2164, CVE-2010-2165, CVE-2010-2166, CVE-2010-2167, CVE-2010-2169, CVE-2010-2170, CVE-2010-2171, CVE-2010-2172, CVE-2010-2173, CVE-2010-2174, CVE-2010-2175, CVE-2010-2176, CVE-2010-2177, CVE-2010-2178, CVE-2010-2179, CVE-2010-2180, CVE-2010-2181, CVE-2010-2182, CVE-2010-2183, CVE-2010-2184, CVE-2010-2185, CVE-2010-2186, CVE-2010-2187, CVE-2010-2188, CVE-2010-2189
This is quite impressive, and it raises a couple of question about the overall protection users have when using active content.
Now for the really bad news: Adobe® has discontinued the support for the Flash player plugin on AMD64 systems: The Flash Player 10.1 64-bit Linux beta is closed. We remain committed to delivering 64-bit support in a future release of Flash Player. No further information is available at this time. This is exactly the reason why proprietary software is less reliable and less secure as Free Software. GNU/Linux users on the AMD64 platform now can only deinstall the Flash player plugin in order not to be vulnerable against the exploits listed above. Interestingly enough the lab web site says: Please feel free to continue your discussions on the Flash Player 10.1 desktop forums. If you enter the forum you are greeted with the message: Important: Do not use this forum to discuss the Flash Player 10 64-bit Linux pre-release or Flash Player 10 and earlier release players. This basically translates into: Go away, we don't care about you, and we don't want you to use our products.
It seems that Adobe® is changing its business strategy. End users get less and less until they get nothing at all. Of course there might be a 64-bit version in the future, but judging from the texts on Adobe®'s web site we wouldn't count on it.