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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 11 Sep 2023.
ColdfusionApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-26359

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-23
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Adobe ColdFusion versions 2018 Update 15 (and earlier) and 2021 Update 5 (and earlier) are affected by a Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.

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 versions 2018 Update 15 and earlier, and 2021 Update 5 and earlier contain a deserialization vulnerability allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by sending specially crafted requests. No user interaction is required for exploitation.

MitigationApply available vendor patches: update ColdFusion 2018 to Update 16 or later, and ColdFusion 2021 to Update 6 or later. If patching is immediately infeasible, restrict network exposure to ColdFusion endpoints and implement WAF rules for known deserialization attack patterns.

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:= 2018= 2021

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. Verify ColdFusion version
    Check the installed version by opening the ColdFusion Administrator console (usually at /cfide/administrator/ ) and reviewing the version information displayed on the welcome page, or by checking the version.txt file in the ColdFusion installation directory.
    Affected if The version shows ColdFusion 2018 with Update 15 or earlier, or ColdFusion 2021 with Update 5 or earlier.
  2. Confirm update level via logs
    Review the ColdFusion server logs (typically in the /logs/ directory) for entries indicating applied updates. Search for lines containing 'update' or 'hotfix' to identify the current patch level.
    Affected if Log entries show Update 15 or earlier for ColdFusion 2018, or Update 5 or earlier for ColdFusion 2021.
  3. Check administrator interface exposure
    Determine if the ColdFusion Administrator interface (typically on port 8500 or 80/443) is accessible from network locations other than localhost. Review web server configuration and firewall rules for bindings to the /cfide/administrator/ path.
    Affected if The Administrator interface is reachable from external IP addresses or untrusted networks.
  4. Identify exposed deserialization endpoints
    Review web.xml and associated configuration files to identify if endpoints accepting serialized data (such as Flex remoting, BlazeDS, or custom SOAP/REST endpoints using ColdFusion's serialization features) are enabled and exposed.
    Affected if Endpoints that process serialized data are exposed without authentication or additional access controls.

Your environment is affected if ColdFusion 2018 is at Update 15 or earlier, or ColdFusion 2021 is at Update 5 or earlier, and the Administrator interface or deserialization endpoints are 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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch helpx.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply available vendor patches: update ColdFusion 2018 to Update 16 or later, and ColdFusion 2021 to Update 6 or later. If patching is immediately infeasible, restrict network exposure to ColdFusion endpoints and implement WAF rules for known deserialization attack patterns.

Recommended fix High confidence

ColdFusion 2018 Update 16+ or ColdFusion 2021 Update 6+ (depending on your installation)

  1. 1. Back up your current ColdFusion installation and configuration files
  2. 2. Download the latest ColdFusion 2018 update (Update 16 or later) from the Adobe ColdFusion downloads page
  3. 3. Download the latest ColdFusion 2021 update (Update 6 or later) from the Adobe ColdFusion downloads page
  4. 4. Apply the appropriate update to each affected ColdFusion instance
  5. 5. Restart the ColdFusion application server services after applying the update
  6. 6. Verify the update was successful by checking the ColdFusion administrator console for the installed update version
  7. 7. Test critical application functionality to ensure normal operation
Caveat Standard update; review Adobe's update notes for any configuration or compatibility notes

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

Fix this in Coldfusion Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2023-26359 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data