bcastner
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1 edit | reply to SUMware
It does not remove or replace anything. That was the original guess being made, and it is the factual point in error about this issue.
XP SP3 does nothing to the Flash status as existed prior to its installation. It ensures that the Flash status, at least the portion that was in the SP2 distribution, is as it was for SP2. However, it will not effect a computer with a Flash update. It will not add anything that SP2 did not. It will not expose a vulenerability because there is an older version of Flash.ocx available; the issue is not unique to XP SP3 -- if there has been no updates to the computer since SP2 -- including the Hotfix above, your risk exposure is identical to the state of your system prior to installing XP SP3. And if you have updated Flash, it does not change the risk exposure by installation. Previous OCX versions are not callable under Flash if later versions are installed.
Let's not invent a vulnerability where non exists. Let's use this as a useful reminder for those who do not update Flash, or do not wish to use it, to take steps -- the Hotfix, the uninstaller from Adobe, or turning it OFF formally -- to make sure their systems are secure. But no additional securiy surface in regards to Flash is exposed by the XP SP3 installation. The Hotfix notes quoted above were the same as issued with XP SP2; revised only to suggest that if you have done nothing -- no Hotfix, no Flash Update -- then the same warning applies as it did several years ago.
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