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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 10 Aug 2023.
ColdfusionApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-29298

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-12
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 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
Adobe ColdFusion versions 2018u16 (and earlier), 2021u6 (and earlier) and 2023.0.0.330468 (and earlier) are affected by an Improper Access Control vulnerability that could result in a Security feature bypass. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to access the administration CFM and CFC endpoints. 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 2018u16 and earlier, 2021u6 and earlier, and 2023.0.0.330468 and earlier contain an Improper Access Control vulnerability allowing attackers to bypass security features and access administration CFM and CFC endpoints without user interaction.

MitigationApply vendor patches (ColdFusion 2018u17, 2021u7, 2023.0.0.330469 or later) to address the access control bypass. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to administrative interfaces via firewall or web server rules.

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= 2023

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 installed ColdFusion version
    Access the ColdFusion Administrator interface at /CFIDE/administrator/ or check the version.txt file in the ColdFusion installation root directory. The version number is typically displayed on the administrator login page or in the 'Server Settings > About' section.
    Affected if The installed version is 2018u16 or earlier, 2021u6 or earlier, or 2023.0.0.330468 or earlier.
  2. Verify administrator endpoint accessibility
    Attempt to access the ColdFusion Administrator interface from an external or untrusted network location. Try accessing /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm or /cfadmin/ without valid credentials.
    Affected if The administrator endpoints are reachable from untrusted networks without authentication being enforced.
  3. Confirm authentication enforcement on CFC endpoints
    Attempt to access CFC (ColdFusion Component) endpoints in the CFIDE or custom directories without providing credentials. Check if unauthenticated requests to .cfc files in administrative or sensitive paths return data or error messages.
    Affected if Administrative CFC endpoints are accessible without authentication prompts.
  4. Check for network-level access restrictions
    Review firewall rules, web server configuration (Apache httpd.conf, IIS web.config), or network segmentation to determine if administrative endpoints are restricted to trusted IP addresses or internal networks.
    Affected if No network-level restrictions exist and administrative endpoints are exposed to the internet or untrusted networks.

The environment is affected if the installed ColdFusion version falls within the affected ranges and administrative endpoints are accessible without authentication from untrusted network locations.

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

Apply vendor patches (ColdFusion 2018u17, 2021u7, 2023.0.0.330469 or later) to address the access control bypass. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to administrative interfaces via firewall or web server rules.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to ColdFusion 2018 Update 17, ColdFusion 2021 Update 7, or the subsequent ColdFusion 2023 release (verify exact version from Adobe security bulletin APSB23-34)

  1. 1. Identify your current ColdFusion version by checking the ColdFusion Administrator or the version information in the installation.
  2. 2. For ColdFusion 2018: Upgrade to update 17 (or later) which contains the security fix for CVE-2023-29298.
  3. 3. For ColdFusion 2021: Upgrade to update 7 (or later) which contains the security fix for CVE-2023-29298.
  4. 4. For ColdFusion 2023: Upgrade to the release following 0.0.330468 (check Adobe's official security bulletin for the exact version number) which contains the security fix for CVE-2023-29298.
  5. 5. After upgrading, verify that the ColdFusion Administrator is not directly exposed to the internet and is properly restricted by network controls.
  6. 6. Test that ColdFusion applications function normally after the update.
  7. 7. Review and monitor logs for any signs of exploitation attempts targeting the administration endpoints.
Caveat Standard update - review Adobe's release notes for any configuration or compatibility changes in the specific update version

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

Fix this in Coldfusion Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,790
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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-2023-29298 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