CVE-2018-15958
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 · uneditedAdobe ColdFusion versions July 12 release (2018.0.0.310739), Update 6 and earlier, and Update 14 and earlier have a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.
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 confidenceAdobe ColdFusion suffers from a deserialization vulnerability where untrusted data is processed without proper validation, allowing remote attackers to inject malicious serialized objects that execute arbitrary code on the affected server.
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= 11.0= 2016= 2018CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine ColdFusion installed versionAccess the ColdFusion Administrator login page (typically at /CFIDE/administrator/) and check the version displayed on the login page or in the 'System Information' section. Alternatively, check the version.xml file in the ColdFusion installation root directory.Affected if The installed version is 11.0, 2016, or 2018 (any update before the patched versions)
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Verify administrator access is enabledConfirm the ColdFusion Administrator interface is accessible. Try accessing /CFIDE/administrator/ on the server. Check if the 'Server Settings' > 'Administrator' setting is enabled in the ColdFusion configuration.Affected if The ColdFusion Administrator is accessible without additional network restrictions, providing an attack surface for deserialization endpoints
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Check Flash Remoting gateway statusExamine the ColdFusion Administrator under 'Server Settings' > 'Flash Remoting' or check the 'remoting-config.xml' file in the WEB-INF directory for the Flash Remoting gateway configuration.Affected if Flash Remoting gateway is enabled, as this feature processes serialized AMF data and is a known vector for deserialization attacks
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Identify exposed deserialization endpointsReview the server's exposed web endpoints and web.xml configuration files. Look for any endpoints that accept serialized object data, particularly those related to Flex/Flash communications or REST services.Affected if The server exposes endpoints that accept unvalidated serialized data without proper input sanitization
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Inspect deserialization configuration settingsCheck the ColdFusion 'neo-debugger.xml' or 'serialization.properties' files in the lib directory for deserialization-related security settings. Verify if any whitelist or blacklist configurations exist for allowed classes.Affected if No strict deserialization class whitelisting is configured, allowing arbitrary class instantiation
The environment is affected if ColdFusion 11.0, 2016, or 2018 is installed with the Administrator or Flash Remoting accessible and no restrictive deserialization filters configured.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedApply the Adobe security hotfix or update to a patched ColdFusion version (beyond Update 6 for 2018.0.0.310739 and beyond Update 14 for earlier releases).
Apply the latest available ColdFusion update for each respective version: ColdFusion 11 Update 7+, ColdFusion 2016 Update 15+, or ColdFusion 2018 update after July 2018 release (preferably the latest cumulative update)
- Identify the exact installed version of ColdFusion by checking the version number in the ColdFusion Administrator or the installation directory
- For ColdFusion 11: Apply Update 7 or later (the fix is included in Update 7 and subsequent updates)
- For ColdFusion 2016: Apply Update 15 or later (the fix is included in Update 15 and subsequent updates)
- For ColdFusion 2018: Apply the update released after July 12, 2018 (the fix is included in subsequent updates after 2018.0.0.310739)
- After applying updates, restart the ColdFusion service
- Verify the update was successful by checking the version in ColdFusion Administrator
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,128.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15958 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-15958 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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