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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022.
ColdfusionApplication · Adobe

CVE-2013-0632

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-01-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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
administrator.cfc in Adobe ColdFusion 9.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.2, and 10 allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and possibly execute arbitrary code by logging in to the RDS component using the default empty password and leveraging this session to access the administrative web interface, as exploited in the wild in January 2013.

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

Adobe ColdFusion administrator.cfc in versions 9.0 through 10 allows remote attackers to bypass authentication by logging into the RDS (Remote Development Services) component using the default empty password, then leveraging this session to access the administrative web interface and potentially execute arbitrary code.

MitigationImmediately disable or change the default empty password on the RDS component, and consider upgrading to a supported ColdFusion version as 9.x and 10 are end-of-life.

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
ColdfusionApplication
Affected:= 9.0= 9.0.1= 9.0.2= 10.0

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 installed ColdFusion version
    Access the ColdFusion Administrator login page (typically at /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm) or check the version.txt file in the ColdFusion installation root directory. Alternatively, check the welcome page at the root URL for the version display.
    Affected if The installed version is 9.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.2, or 10.0.
  2. Confirm RDS is enabled
    Log into ColdFusion Administrator and navigate to the RDS & Debugging settings page (Server Settings > RDS & Debugging). Check whether the RDS service is turned on.
    Affected if RDS is enabled and running.
  3. Check RDS password configuration
    In the RDS & Debugging settings page, examine the RDS password field. Determine if the password is left empty (blank) or set to a default value.
    Affected if The RDS password is empty or set to the default (blank) password.
  4. Verify administrative interface accessibility
    Attempt to access the ColdFusion Administrator URL (path: /CFIDE/administrator/) from an untrusted network. Check if the interface is reachable without VPN or IP restriction.
    Affected if The administrative web interface is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet.

A user is affected if they are running ColdFusion 9.0 through 9.0.2 or version 10.0 with RDS enabled and an empty or default password, especially if the admin interface is network-accessible.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately disable or change the default empty password on the RDS component, and consider upgrading to a supported ColdFusion version as 9.x and 10 are end-of-life.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe ColdFusion 9.0.2 with cumulative hotfix 11 or later / ColdFusion 10 update 14 or later

  1. 1. Apply Adobe ColdFusion security patch APSB13-13 (or subsequent cumulative hotfixes) which addresses the default empty password vulnerability in the RDS component.
  2. 2. After patching, change the default RDS password by accessing the ColdFusion Administrator console, navigating to the RDS configuration settings, and setting a strong, unique password.
  3. 3. If the RDS service is not required for your deployment, disable it entirely through the ColdFusion Administrator under 'RDS Configuration'.
  4. 4. Verify that the administrative web interface is not directly exposed to the internet; restrict access to trusted IP addresses via web server configuration or firewall rules.
  5. 5. Review ColdFusion server logs for any unauthorized access attempts dating back to January 2013 and investigate any suspicious activity.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Coldfusion Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,050
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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-2013-0632 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data