Coldfusion ServerApplication · Allaire

CVE-2000-0189

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-03-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
ColdFusion Server 4.x allows remote attackers to determine the real pathname of the server via an HTTP request to the application.cfm or onrequestend.cfm files.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

ColdFusion Server 4.x contains a path disclosure vulnerability where HTTP requests to application.cfm or onrequestend.cfm files return the server's real filesystem pathname in server responses, allowing remote attackers to gather intelligence about the server's internal structure.

MitigationUpgrade from the deprecated ColdFusion 4.x to a supported ColdFusion version, or implement web server access controls to restrict or block access to these specific .cfm endpoint files.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Coldfusion ServerApplication
Affected:= 4.0= 4.0.1= 4.5

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ColdFusion installation and version
    Check the ColdFusion server for installed version by reviewing server documentation, startup scripts, or the cfusion/lib/cfc.jar manifest. Also check the Windows registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Allaire\ColdFusion\CurrentVersion) or Unix config files for the version string.
    Affected if The installed version matches 4.0, 4.0.1, or 4.5 exactly.
  2. Locate the web root directory
    Identify the web document root or the directory from which ColdFusion serves web content. This is typically configured in the ColdFusion Administrator or the web server configuration.
    Affected if A web-accessible directory is configured as the document root.
  3. Test application.cfm for path disclosure
    Send an HTTP GET request to /application.cfm (or any path where application.cfm might exist) using a tool like curl: curl -v http://target/application.cfm. Examine the response headers and body for any filesystem path strings.
    Affected if The response contains an absolute filesystem path (e.g., C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ or /var/www/html/) rather than a relative or generic error.
  4. Test onrequestend.cfm for path disclosure
    Send an HTTP GET request to /onrequestend.cfm using curl or a browser: curl -v http://target/onrequestend.cfm. Inspect the response for exposed filesystem paths.
    Affected if The response includes the full server filesystem path in any error message or output.

If ColdFusion Server version 4.0, 4.0.1, or 4.5 is installed AND either application.cfm or onrequestend.cfm returns an absolute filesystem path in the HTTP response, the server is affected by this path disclosure vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade from the deprecated ColdFusion 4.x to a supported ColdFusion version, or implement web server access controls to restrict or block access to these specific .cfm endpoint files.

Fix this in Coldfusion Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2000-0189 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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