CVE-2018-4938
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 Update 5 and earlier versions, ColdFusion 11 Update 13 and earlier versions have an exploitable Insecure Library Loading vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to local privilege escalation.
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 contains an insecure library loading vulnerability where the application loads DLLs without fully specifying secure paths, allowing an attacker to place malicious libraries that get loaded with elevated privileges. This affects ColdFusion 2016 Update 5 and earlier, and ColdFusion 11 Update 13 and earlier.
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= 2016CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Identify ColdFusion product editionDetermine if the installation is ColdFusion 11 or ColdFusion 2016. This can typically be found in the ColdFusion Administrator console under the 'Server Settings' or 'About ColdFusion' page, or by checking the installation directory for the edition markers.Affected if The edition is either ColdFusion 11 or ColdFusion 2016.
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Check ColdFusion 11 update levelFor ColdFusion 11 installations, locate the update level by checking the Administrator interface, the hotfix configuration file, or the cfusion/lib directory for update marker files. The update number corresponds to the installed hotfix level.Affected if ColdFusion 11 has Update 13 or earlier installed.
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Check ColdFusion 2016 update levelFor ColdFusion 2016 installations, locate the update level by checking the Administrator interface, the hotfix configuration file, or the cfusion/lib directory for update marker files. The update number corresponds to the installed hotfix level.Affected if ColdFusion 2016 has Update 5 or earlier installed.
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Compare installed version to secure baselinesUse the version information gathered to compare against the affected version ranges: ColdFusion 11 Update 13 and earlier, or ColdFusion 2016 Update 5 and earlier.Affected if The installed version falls within either of these affected ranges.
A user is affected if their ColdFusion 11 installation is at Update 13 or earlier, or their ColdFusion 2016 installation is at Update 5 or earlier.
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.
From vendor dataApply the vendor-supplied security updates (ColdFusion 2016 Update 6 or later, ColdFusion 11 Update 14 or later). Additionally, ensure the ColdFusion service runs with least privilege and monitor for unauthorized library placement in application directories.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4938 — 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-2018-4938 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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