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Thread: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

  1. #1

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    So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    I read that Adobe is not depending on browsers to disable Flash plugin compatibility (though most browsers will). They are going to take the initiative and do it themselves. But how? Are they going to issue a final version of Flash update, that will apply an expiration timer to it? So after Jan 12, 2021 it will automatically disable? Are they going to push an unblockable update on Jan 12 that will update Flash to a non-functioning version of flash. Does Flash already have a previously unmentioned backdoor mechanism, such as establishing a connection to Adobe's servers, whenever an SWF file is loaded, to get permission from Adobe's server as to if it's allowed to run, and after Jan 12 Adobe's servers will no longer grant permission to Flash to run?

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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    I don't know for sure, but one possibility is that they just have their most recent version of flash (and possibly several of the most recent past versions) set to check the system date when flash is loaded, and if it is on or after January 12, 2021, it will refuse to load any content.

    I have some older offline educational content that uses Flash for labs/examples, so I downloaded the full installs of several older Flash versions to have available that will hopefully still function after that date.

  3. #3
    Fanatic Member Delaney's Avatar
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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    Well, this week, instead of having the update of flash, Adobe proposed me to uninstall flash. For the disability, they may just need not to update it . If your flash version is obsolete, Firefox will disable it automatically. The browser may just have to check for a version that will never exist.
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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    I just did this test that seems to confirm my suspicions above:

    On a laptop with the most recent Flash plugin (32.0.0.465), I booted it up with the network cable unplugged so that it was completely offline. I then opened a local .htm file that loads a flash file and verified that it loaded properly.

    I closed IE and then changed the date to January 30, 2021. I then opened that same local .htm file that loads a flash file and instead of the flash content being displayed, a large italic "f" appeared along with a large "i" inside of a circle. Clicking on this opened up a new browser window to www.adobe.com/go/fp

    I closed IE and then changed the date back to December 30, 2020. I then opened that same local .htm file that loads a flash file and verified that it loaded properly once again.

    So, it doesn't look like there is any "checking in" online, or anything overly complex in how they are doing this. Just checking the local system clock and refusing to load the flash content if it is after the "expiration" date of Flash. So, for someone who *really* needs to be able to access Flash content after the date in question, they can still do so with some system clock related workarounds even with this "final" version of Flash.

    I'm going to try installing some older versions of Flash now and see what happens with them when I change the system date.

    Edit: Just to add, I'm only testing how Adobe is handling the disabling of Flash player within Flash player itself, NOT how browsers like FireFox and Chrome are handling disabling/removing of the browser plug-in.
    Last edited by OptionBase1; Dec 30th, 2020 at 01:41 PM.

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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    Ok, so I would say this falls under the column of "Do this only at your own risk on a system that doesn't have critically sensitive information on it, or isn't connected to systems with critically sensitive information on them."

    With that out of the way, this process works. This will let you install an older version of the Flash plug-in that doesn't have the built-in expiration date.

    Again, note, this is testing with IE and not on Windows 10. I can't comment on how Windows 10 treats the IE plug-in after the "expiration" date.

    1. Uninstall Flash plug-in

    2. Download an older Flash plug-in full installation file from the Wayback machine. Search for the following URL's and grab a download from several months ago.
    Code:
      https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_ax.exe (IE plug-in)
      https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player.exe (Firefox plug-in)
    Once you've downloaded the file, check the version information of the installer and make sure it is something "earlier" than 32.0.0.465 (I tested with 32.0.0.207). If the file you downloaded is the 32.0.0.465 version, try to grab the file again from an earlier date.

    3. Run Regedit and navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\SafeVersions
    You should see a value named "32.0", rename this to something like "x32.0"

    4. Run the installer that you downloaded in step 2. (If you don't do step 3, at this point it will refuse to install the older version stating that a newer version is available). At the end of the installation choose to never update automatically.

    You are done. You will now have a version of Flash installed that doesn't internally "expire", but again, the latest versions of the major browsers are also doing their own thing to disable the Flash plug-in, so YMMV as far as if this will work for you or not.

  6. #6

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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    Quote Originally Posted by OptionBase1 View Post
    Ok, so I would say this falls under the column of "Do this only at your own risk on a system that doesn't have critically sensitive information on it, or isn't connected to systems with critically sensitive information on them."

    With that out of the way, this process works. This will let you install an older version of the Flash plug-in that doesn't have the built-in expiration date.

    Again, note, this is testing with IE and not on Windows 10. I can't comment on how Windows 10 treats the IE plug-in after the "expiration" date.

    1. Uninstall Flash plug-in

    2. Download an older Flash plug-in full installation file from the Wayback machine. Search for the following URL's and grab a download from several months ago.
    Code:
      https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_ax.exe (IE plug-in)
      https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player.exe (Firefox plug-in)
    Once you've downloaded the file, check the version information of the installer and make sure it is something "earlier" than 32.0.0.465 (I tested with 32.0.0.207). If the file you downloaded is the 32.0.0.465 version, try to grab the file again from an earlier date.

    3. Run Regedit and navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\SafeVersions
    You should see a value named "32.0", rename this to something like "x32.0"

    4. Run the installer that you downloaded in step 2. (If you don't do step 3, at this point it will refuse to install the older version stating that a newer version is available). At the end of the installation choose to never update automatically.

    You are done. You will now have a version of Flash installed that doesn't internally "expire", but again, the latest versions of the major browsers are also doing their own thing to disable the Flash plug-in, so YMMV as far as if this will work for you or not.

    For browsers not working, you can always download older versions of the browser. Mozilla's own website has older versions of FF (back to pre-1.0 on Linux, and back to like 1.0 or 2.0 on Windows). If you want to downgrade Firefox, but don't want to overwrite the current version, you can download FireFox Portable. It's made by a 3rd party (not Mozilla) by using a special Portable Apps converter software for converting an EXE into a portable version (converting registry reads/writes into file reads/writes, and other such hacks to make the EXE completely portable). You can then run FF Portable without uninstalling your main version of FF. You need to close any windows of FF though before opening FF Portable, or it will just spawn a new window of normal FF (not sure how it knows FF is already running, but it seems to be able to).

    Using older FF will let you use older extensions and plugins. I've been able to run Java browser plugin in FF Portable, even though it won't work at all in the current FF version. If you have any version of Flash installed that won't work with your current browser, try using it in an older version of FF Portable instead.

  7. #7
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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ben321 View Post
    For browsers not working, you can always download older versions of the browser. Mozilla's own website has older versions of FF (back to pre-1.0 on Linux, and back to like 1.0 or 2.0 on Windows). If you want to downgrade Firefox, but don't want to overwrite the current version, you can download FireFox Portable. It's made by a 3rd party (not Mozilla) by using a special Portable Apps converter software for converting an EXE into a portable version (converting registry reads/writes into file reads/writes, and other such hacks to make the EXE completely portable). You can then run FF Portable without uninstalling your main version of FF. You need to close any windows of FF though before opening FF Portable, or it will just spawn a new window of normal FF (not sure how it knows FF is already running, but it seems to be able to).

    Using older FF will let you use older extensions and plugins. I've been able to run Java browser plugin in FF Portable, even though it won't work at all in the current FF version. If you have any version of Flash installed that won't work with your current browser, try using it in an older version of FF Portable instead.
    Well, i mean, if you want your computer infected... There's a reason it's had updates you know. Most of them are fixing giant glaring security holes, and flash is just not necessary anymore. Html5 and javascript can do pretty much all of what flash can.

    A safer(ish) solution would probably involve you editing the most recent plugin. We've been flash-less on mobile for years now and nobody cares.
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  8. #8
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    Re: So how exactly is Adobe going to diisable Flash?

    There is a way to continue to use the final version flash plug-in by manually configuring a config file. It worked for me on my (not Windows 10) PC.

    Steps below were taken from here:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...c-71201f6ff61e


    Create the following files (they may already exist, if so, I would make a copy of the existing file to something like mms.bak):
    %windir%\System32\Macromed\Flash\mms.cfg
    %windir%\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\mms.cfg

    Edit the files, delete any existing settings, and paste the content below:

    Code:
    EnableAllowList=1
    AllowListRootMovieOnly=1
    AllowListUrlPattern=https://www.site1.com:443
    AllowListUrlPattern=http://www.site2.com:80
    AllowListUrlPattern=http://%FQDN3%:%PORT%
    SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0
    AutoUpdateDisable=1
    EOLUninstallDisable=1
    Modify the AllowListURLPattern entries as needed. This will allow Flash content to run from the specified websites.

    If, like me, you have local Flash content on your hard disk that you access via the filesystem and not a webserver, you would use an entry like this:

    Code:
    AllowListUrlPattern=file:///E:/Education/

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