Adobe Rolls Out New Patches for Actively Exploited ColdFusion Vulnerability

CVE-2023-29298 is an improper access control flaw (CWE-284) in Adobe ColdFusion that lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker reach ColdFusion's administrative CFM and CFC endpoints, bypassing the access controls meant to protect them. It is triggered directly over the network with no user interaction and no privileges required (CVSS 3.1: 7.5, high confidentiality impact). An attacker gains access to administrative endpoints as a security feature bypass; in practice, Adobe patched this flaw in the same July 2023 out-of-band update as a critical, actively exploited ColdFusion RCE, and it can be used to reach the server's admin surface. All Adobe ColdFusion deployments running 2018 Update 16 (and earlier), 2021 Update 6 (and earlier), or 2023.0.0.330468 (and earlier) are affected. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added it to the KEV on 2023-07-20 and EPSS assigns a 99.8% probability of exploitation within 30 days.

Do: Apply Adobe's July 2023 out-of-band ColdFusion updates immediately - upgrade beyond the affected builds (ColdFusion 2018 later than Update 16, e.g. Update 17; 2021 later than Update 6, e.g. Update 7; and the patched 2023 hotfix newer than build 330468) or follow Adobe's advisory instructions, as CISA requires mitigations or discontinuation of use for KEV entries. Until patched, restrict network access to ColdFusion Administrator/CFIDE endpoints from untrusted networks. Because no authentication or interaction is required, review access logs for unauthenticated requests to admin CFM/CFC endpoints and assume possible compromise on unpatched, internet-facing servers.

CVE-2023-38203 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) deserialization-of-untrusted-data flaw (CWE-502) in Adobe ColdFusion that can lead to arbitrary code execution. It is triggered over the network when an affected ColdFusion server processes crafted untrusted serialized data, and exploitation requires no authentication and no user interaction. A successful attacker gains arbitrary code execution with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the host. Organizations running ColdFusion 2018 (Update 17 or earlier), ColdFusion 2021 (Update 7 or earlier), or ColdFusion 2023 (Update 1 or earlier) are affected. The flaw is being actively exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-01-08 with known ransomware use, EPSS assigns a 96.7% probability of exploitation within 30 days (100th percentile), and Adobe has shipped out-of-band patches in response.

Do: Upgrade all ColdFusion 2018, 2021, and 2023 installations beyond the affected levels (at least past 2018u17, 2021u7, and 2023u1, using the latest update Adobe provides in its advisory). If patching must be delayed, apply the mitigations per Adobe's instructions, restrict or remove internet exposure of ColdFusion servers, and prioritize internet-facing hosts. Because exploitation is confirmed with known ransomware use, review ColdFusion logs and affected hosts for signs of exploitation, webshells, or follow-on malware, and discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable per CISA's required action.

CVE-2023-38205 is an improper access control flaw (CWE-284) in the administration interface of Adobe ColdFusion that results in a security feature bypass. It can be triggered over the network with no authentication and no user interaction, by sending requests directly to the ColdFusion administrative CFM and CFC endpoints. An attacker who exploits it gains unauthorized access to those admin endpoints, with the CVSS vector indicating high confidentiality impact (no direct integrity or availability impact). Any organization running an unpatched ColdFusion 2018 (Update 18 or earlier), 2021 (Update 8 or earlier), or 2023 (Update 2 or earlier) instance is affected, particularly where the admin endpoints are reachable from untrusted networks. The flaw is being actively exploited: it was added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2023-07-20, EPSS assigns a 99.7% probability of exploitation within 30 days, and related news describes an out-of-band Adobe patch for an actively exploited ColdFusion zero-day plus thousands of observed ColdFusion exploit attempts, with companion flaws (CVE-2023-38203, CVE-2023-29298) used to deploy web shells; no standalone public PoC is known, but the KEV listing confirms in-the-wild use.

Do: Apply Adobe's July 2023 out-of-band updates by upgrading to ColdFusion 2018 Update 19, 2021 Update 9, and 2023 Update 3, or later. Until patched, restrict network access to the ColdFusion Administrator CFM/CFC endpoints (the standard /CFIDE/administrator area) and review servers for compromise indicators such as web shells, given the companion ColdFusion flaws were exploited to deploy web shells. As a CISA KEV entry, federal and other KEV-bound operators must apply the vendor mitigations or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.