Adobe ColdFusion: Incorrect Authorization leads to arbitrary code execution
Summary
Adobe ColdFusion 2023 and 2025 contain an Incorrect Authorization flaw (CWE-863). An attacker with high privileges on an adjacent network can execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user, with a changed scope. The vulnerable component is restricted to an administrative network zone by default, and no user interaction is required.
Affected
- Adobe ColdFusion 2025: 2025.0.13 and earlier
- Adobe ColdFusion 2023: 2023.0.25 and earlier
Fixed in
- Adobe ColdFusion 2025 Update 14 (2025.0.14)
- Adobe ColdFusion 2023 Update 26 (2023.0.26)
Workaround
- No workaround is required; apply the patch.
- Keep the ColdFusion administrative interface off the public internet.
- Apply the security configuration settings and review the Lockdown guides as described by Adobe.
- Known issue: the new outbound network policy checks only the top-level URL fetched by cfdocument. Do not render untrusted HTML with external resource URLs until Adobe has resolved this.
Exploitation
- Adobe is not aware of any exploits in the wild for the issues in APSB26-144.
- CISA SSVC assessment: Exploitation none, Automatable no, Technical Impact total.
- Public proof of concept: Unknown.
- CISA KEV status: Unknown.
Our recommendation
- Identify all ColdFusion 2023 and 2025 installations.
- Update to 2025.0.14 or 2023.0.26 or later as part of the full APSB26-144 update.
- Do not patch this CVE in isolation; the same bulletin contains more critical unauthenticated issues, so prioritise internet-facing servers.
- Confirm that the administrative interface is not internet-exposed and that admin accounts are restricted, use strong authentication and are not reused.
- Monitor for unexpected code execution or administrative activity on ColdFusion servers.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Adobe Security Bulletin APSB26-144 www.adobe.com
- Adobe ColdFusion 2025 Updates guides.adobe.com
- Adobe ColdFusion 2023 Release Update 26 guides.adobe.com
- CVE record mirror (threatint) cve.threatint.com
- Strix CVE-2026-71385 www.strix.ai
- Blacktree analysis of October 2026 Adobe fixes blacktree.nl
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 1 Nov 2026, 12:28.
Original description (NVD)
ColdFusion is affected by an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. An attacker with high privileges could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerable component is restricted to an administrative network zone by default. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction. Scope is changed.
NVD references (1)
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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