In addition, an emergency “switch” was introduced into the Flash Player code in advance, which prevents the launch of any Flash content, starting from January 12, 2021.

Last year, in preparation for the final end of support for Flash Player, Microsoft created update KB4577586 to remove Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 8, 10 and Windows Server and prevent it from being reinstalled.

At that time, the update was only available through the official catalog and could not be removed after installation. However, the update was optional, although it was forcibly rolled out in February to some Windows 10 machines.

In general, the company promised that in early 2021 this update will be distributed via WSUS and Windows Update and will be made mandatory. On Microsoft’s blog can be found a post that reveals further plans regarding KB4577586.

Starting June 2021, Microsoft plans to include KB4577586 as part of optional Windows 10 cumulative preview updates for Windows 10 1809 and later.

It also became known that in Windows 21H1, the preview version of which will become public this month, the KB4577586 update will be installed automatically, that is, the Adobe Flash Player plugin will be automatically removed.

It is unlikely that the final removal of Flash Player will be noticed by users, because now it is actually useless and cannot be used to display content.

However, let me remind you that with the shutdown of Flash, strange things began to happen in some parts of the world: for example: End of support for Adobe Flash caused interruptions in the Chinese railway system, as well as Authorities of South Africa create their own browser to continue to use Flash. It is also interesting that a special version of Flash for China turned into adware.

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As you know, at the beginning of 2021, support for Adobe Flash Player was finally discontinued. A special self-destructing code was pre-built into the software code, and starting from January 12, 2021, Adobe blocks the launch of any Flash content.

However, in China, Adobe has allowed local Zhong Cheng Network to continue Flash support, as it is still an important part of the local IT ecosystem and is widely used in both the public and private sectors. For example, at the beginning of the year, due to the termination of support for Flash, Chinese railway workers faced serious problems.

A special Chinese version of Flash is distributed through the flash[.]сn website and Minerva Labs recently discovered that it is insecure.

According to the researchers, in addition to Flash itself, other payloads also penetrate users’ machines. In particular, the application downloaded and launched the nt.dll file inside the FlashHelperService.exe process, which opens a new browser window at regular intervals and shows various sites with a lot of ads and pop-ups.

The suspicious behavior of this process was also noticed by Cisco Talos analysts, who noted that FlashHelperService.exe became one of the leading threats in January, and then in February.

Users noticed this problem too. Numerous complaints can already be found on the Adobe Support Forum, local blogs, and more.

Let me remind you that the Authorities of South Africa create their own browser to continue to use Flash.

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Let me remind you that Flash Player support was finally discontinued on December 31, 2020. In addition, a unique mechanism for self-destruction was built into the software code in advance, and starting from January 12, 2021, Adobe forcibly blocks the launch of any Flash content.

The plan of the Adobe developers worked exactly as it was supposed. On January 12, the South African tax service began to experience problems: the department stopped receiving tax returns through its website, as the download forms were Flash widgets.

Instead of abandoning Flash and switching to HTML or JS, the South African authorities took a non-trivial step. The fact is that this week the Revenue office introduced its own browser, SARS eFiling Browser, a stripped-down version of Chromium with two main functions. Thus, the browser re-enables Flash support and gives users access to the SARS eFiling website. Fortunately, the browser only allows access to the official website of the Revenue service, which slightly reduces the potential risks for its users.

At the same time, SARS eFiling Browser is available only for Windows. That is, macOS, Linux, and mobile OS users still cannot submit tax return files.

Also, as I reported, the discontinuation of Flash support and operation came as a surprise to the staff of the railway system in China’s Liaoning province.

Apple Daily reports that China Railway Shenyang’s railway software is based on Flash, and after the technology shutdown on January 12, employees lost control of the entire system.

According to ArsTechnica, the problem was solved only the next day, by installing an old version of Flash and blocking updates.

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In December, Adobe released the latest Flash update and has become more aggressive in advising users to uninstall the app. In addition, the company has repeatedly warned that starting from January 12, 2021, Adobe will block the launch of any Flash content, and a special code for self-destruction has been built into the software code in advance.

However, it appears that the end of Flash support and operation came as a surprise to rail workers in China’s Liaoning province.

Apple Daily reports that China Railway Shenyang’s railway software is based on Flash, and after the technology shutdown on January 12, employees, in fact, lost control of the entire system.

According to Apple Daily, the problem was solved only the next day, by installing a pirated version of Flash.

However, ArsTechnica journalists write that, most likely, an inaccuracy crept into the Apple Daily material due to the complexity of translation from Chinese.

So, a detailed report on what happened was published by officials in the Chinese social network QQ (later the message was deleted due to ridicule).

Finally, Chinese users suggested in the English media that the latest Flash client in China can still be downloaded from flash.cn (according to adobes flash support page), and it has no time bomb.

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Let me remind you that work on a complete rejection of Flash Player support has been going on since 2017, when Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, as well as Adobe itself, announced the official date of the final “death” of the technology.

Preparations for this event are in full swing.

The company also said that all “Flash content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the support expiration date.” That is, the company has added or is planning to add a kind of time bomb to the Flash Player code to prevent its future use.

Let me remind you that the vulnerabilities of the Adobe Flash Player technology have traditionally been included in the ratings of the most dangerous bugs for quite some time. For example, recently Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published the TOP 10 software vulnerabilities, most commonly exploited in 2016-2019, and of course Flash Player got its rightful place there.

Now representatives of Microsoft have come up with a similar initiative. This week, KB4577586 was released to remove Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server and to prevent it from being reinstalled on the device.

The update is only available through the official directory and cannot be removed after installation. Later, in early 2021, the company plans to distribute the update through WSUS and Windows Update.

Bleeping Computer journalists tried to figure out what exactly is removed after installing KB4577586.

During tests, it turned out that the version of Flash Player (32-bit) included with Windows 10 and accessible through Control Panel is being removed. However, the Adobe Flash Player component built into Microsoft Edge and other browsers stays in place, just like any other standalone version of the program.

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