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Firefox says Adobe Plugins out-of-date; Plugin checker says up-to-date; blocking Flash and Reader.

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I have the latest versions of Firefox, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader. Just today it has been telling me that Flash is out-of-date and blocked it. The plugin checker tells me it is up-to-date. I went to update to the latest version of Adobe Reader, but was told it was already installed. What can I do?

I have the latest versions of Firefox, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader. Just today it has been telling me that Flash is out-of-date and blocked it. The plugin checker tells me it is up-to-date. I went to update to the latest version of Adobe Reader, but was told it was already installed. What can I do?

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I'm not sure what is going on with Flash. Mine isn't blocked; perhaps it only affects some systems. When you check on the Add-ons page, Plugins section, does it show:

Shockwave Flash 18.0.0.203

For Adobe Reader, the plugin checker sites only considers the new Reader DC to be up-to-date. However, I do not recommend Reader DC for older versions of Windows. To update your Reader X series, go into Reader and use Help > Check for Updates. That should bring your version up-to-date as far as it can, from August 2012 to May 2015:

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html#main_Acrobat_and_Reader_X_release_notes_

After doing that, and exiting and starting Firefox up again, does the Add-ons page, Plugins section, show Adobe Acrobat version 10.1.14? That might be the best you can do on Vista.

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jscher2000 said

I'm not sure what is going on with Flash. Mine isn't blocked; perhaps it only affects some systems. When you check on the Add-ons page, Plugins section, does it show: Shockwave Flash 18.0.0.203 For Adobe Reader, the plugin checker sites only considers the new Reader DC to be up-to-date. However, I do not recommend Reader DC for older versions of Windows. To update your Reader X series, go into Reader and use Help > Check for Updates. That should bring your version up-to-date as far as it can, from August 2012 to May 2015: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html#main_Acrobat_and_Reader_X_release_notes_ After doing that, and exiting and starting Firefox up again, does the Add-ons page, Plugins section, show Adobe Acrobat version 10.1.14? That might be the best you can do on Vista.

Thank you. The Reader update helped. Yes, Shockwave Flash 18.0.0.203 is what it shows.

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Several users are posting in recent hours about the latest Flash being blocked, meaning, requiring manual activation. This may be due to the recent news that there are known, unpatched vulnerabilities in this release of the plugin.

I think you will need to activate the plugin manually on sites where you care to use Flash. Feel free to ignore the notifications on sites where you do not see a strong reason to use Flash.

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jscher2000 said

Several users are posting in recent hours about the latest Flash being blocked, meaning, requiring manual activation. This may be due to the recent news that there are known, unpatched vulnerabilities in this release of the plugin. I think you will need to activate the plugin manually on sites where you care to use Flash. Feel free to ignore the notifications on sites where you do not see a strong reason to use Flash.

Thank you! Hopefully this will be fixed soon.

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Hi, the plugin checker site now has a large notification:

All versions of Adobe’s Flash Player plugin are currently vulnerable.

A "Learn more" link leads to this page: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/set-adobe-flash-click-play-firefox

So even though there is an update button, in this case, there is no update available so please ignore the button for now.


If you are not accustomed to using the "Ask to Activate" feature for a plugin, here's what to expect:

When you visit a site that wants to use the Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and one of the following: a link in a black rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.

If you see a good reason to use Flash, and the site looks trustworthy, you can go ahead and click the Lego-like icon in the address bar to allow Flash.

But the page might be using Flash only for tracking or playing a video ad. If you don't see an immediate need for Flash, feel free to ignore the notification, it will just sit there in case you want it later.

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A vulnerability was found in the latest Flash 18.0.0.203 version. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1071172#answer-753248