They're actually up-to-date Adobe binaries as the article says that Adobe's Chinese Flash subsidiary still maintains Flash and releases security updates for it each month.
> The Chinese version of Flash receives one security update per month and can be freely downloaded from Flash.cn but also has significant strings attached. It comes preinstalled with an adware program called Flash Helper which, according to security sources, exhibits malicious behavior. Developed by ‘darktohka’ and previously located on Github, Clean Flash Installer solves these problems and more.
> “Clean Flash Installer installs this up-to-date freely available version of Flash, but it comes WITHOUT the adware program,” darktohka informs TorrentFreak.
I've never heard of a company being held liable for releasing even a paid product with defective security, let alone a free one. They're not even held liable for deliberately including spyware [1]! That any lawyer would believe a company would be held liable for releasing an imperfect security patch is beyond absurd, and nothing more than a convenient excuse for abusive practices.
> The Chinese version of Flash receives one security update per month and can be freely downloaded from Flash.cn but also has significant strings attached. It comes preinstalled with an adware program called Flash Helper which, according to security sources, exhibits malicious behavior. Developed by ‘darktohka’ and previously located on Github, Clean Flash Installer solves these problems and more.
> “Clean Flash Installer installs this up-to-date freely available version of Flash, but it comes WITHOUT the adware program,” darktohka informs TorrentFreak.