US Government calls for Adobe Flash Player upgrades

The US government is urging Adobe Flash Player users to upgrade to the latest version of the software following the discovery of a 'critical' vulnerability.

The Department of Homeland Security's United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has issued a statement alerting Adobe Flash Player users to the issue.

It claims the flaw affects earlier versions of Adobe Flash Player for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android, and could leave users' systems at risk from being taken over by hackers.

Adobe has published guidance for concerned users, detailing the steps they need to take to verify which version of the software they have installed.

"To verify the version of Adobe Flash Player installed on your system, access the About Flash Player page, or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select About Adobe Flash Player," the firm advised.

"If you use multiple browsers, perform the check for each browser you have installed on your system."

The firm has also publically thanked Mateusz Jurczyk, Gynvael Coldwind, and Fermine Serna from the Google Security Team, as well as Dark Son of Code Audit Labs, for bringing the flaw to its attention.