Is Adobe Flash Player Still Supported? End-of-Life Dates (2026)
Short answer
Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported: vendor support ended on 31 Dec 2020 (5 years and 9 months ago). CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog lists 36 vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player.
Adobe stopped supporting Flash Player on 31 December 2020 and has blocked Flash content from running in it since 12 January 2021, so remaining Flash content has to be rebuilt or run in a third-party emulator.
Legacy Technology Tracker · Status as of 16 Oct 2026. Data checked 7 Oct 2026; refreshed monthly, with quarterly snapshots kept unchanged.
Risk rating
High: support ended 31 Dec 2020; 36 vulnerabilities on CISA's KEV list. How ratings work
Key facts
Every value links to its source and shows when we last checked or retrieved it. Data checked 7 Oct 2026; status as of 16 Oct 2026.
| Fact | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support status | UnsupportedAdobe Flash Player (all versions). | ||
| End of standard support (security updates) | |||
| Known exploited vulnerabilities (CISA KEV) | 36 CVEs all time; 0 added in the last 24 monthsNewest added 17 Sep 2024Matched by vendor and product name in the KEV catalog. | ||
| Home pages using Adobe Flash, all versions (HTTP Archive, mobile) | 5,680 (0.064% of the crawl), Aug 2026 | ||
| Home pages using Adobe Flash, all versions (HTTP Archive, desktop) | 3,572 (0.066% of the crawl), Aug 2026 | ||
| Same measure 12 months earlier (mobile) | 9,409 (0.1% of the crawl), Aug 2025 | ||
| Job postings and salaries | Not tracked for this entry | — | — |
Versions in scope
Adobe Flash Player (all versions). Dates per version, each with its source.
| Version | Status | Standard support ends | Extended support ends | Latest release | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Player | Unsupported | — | — |
If you still run Adobe Flash Player
Adobe's deadline passed on 31 December 2020. Flash Player gets no security fixes, Adobe blocks Flash content in it, and browsers do not run it, so a business process that still depends on SWF files has no supported way to run them.
The realistic options:
- Rebuild. Recreate the content on HTML5, WebGL or WebAssembly, the standards Adobe points to, or fold it into a current front-end framework. This is the only option that leaves no dependency on Flash.
- Emulate. For content you cannot rebuild, an emulator such as Ruffle runs SWF files inside the browser sandbox through WebAssembly. Test each file: an emulator reproduces Flash's behaviour but is a separate project, and some content will not play correctly.
- Retire. Archive the content or remove the feature if nobody uses it.
Whatever you choose, uninstall Flash Player from machines that still have it. Adobe recommends this because the player no longer receives patches.
Rebuild work is front-end modernization; see frontend modernization companies for suppliers and modernization costs for budget context.
Frequently asked questions
Is Adobe Flash Player still supported?
No. Adobe states that support for Flash ended on 31 December 2020 and that it issues no Flash Player updates or security patches after that date (Adobe end-of-life notice).
Can I still run Flash content?
Adobe blocked Flash content from running in Flash Player from 12 January 2021 and recommends uninstalling the player. Major browsers have also disabled it, according to the same notice. The open-source Ruffle project emulates Flash in modern browsers using WebAssembly, but it is not Adobe's player, so test your content.
What replaces Flash?
Adobe names HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly as the open standards that replaced Flash for most uses. Interactive content can be rebuilt on those, or on a current front-end framework.