NVD / CVE Program· CNA adobe

CVE-2023-38205: ColdFusion Bypass - Vulnerability disclosure in ColdFusion | BYPASS CVE-2023-29298

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 90/100)

CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Jul 20, 2023). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Aug 10, 2023.
A ready-made attack module is public (Nuclei); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 99.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.9% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Patch today or shut off access. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

Adobe ColdFusion versions 2018u18 (and earlier), 2021u8 (and earlier) and 2023u2 (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.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

BDU:2023-04256

Published: Sep 14, 2023
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 99.7% · 99th percentile
CWE: CWE-284

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS: 30 / 30 · 99.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: active
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · adobe: 7.5; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Jul 20, 2023. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Aug 10, 2023.

Get told when this record changes

In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
Weaponized exploit exists
No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
adobe	coldfusion	cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

adobe coldfusion2018
adobe coldfusion2021
adobe coldfusion2023

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (adobe). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Adobe ColdFusion
- up to and including cf2023U2affected · semver

Same product

adobe: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2023-29300Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data Arbitrary code executionKEV
99Now
CVE-2018-15961Adobe ColdFusion versions July 12 release (2018.0.0.310739), Update 6 and earlier, and Update 14 and earlier have an unrestricted file uploaKEV
99Now
CVE-2010-2861Multiple directory traversal vulnerabilities in the administrator console in Adobe ColdFusion 9.0.1 and earlier allow remote attackers to reKEV
99Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2021-40699Sep 7, 2023 · ColdFusion CFIDE Improper Access Control Leads To Privilege Escalation
29Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2023-38204Sep 14, 2023 · Bypass APSB23-41 (CVE-2023-38203) - Pre-Auth RCE ColdFusion 2021 Update 8
59Plan
Later →CVE-2023-38206Sep 14, 2023 · ColdFusion | Improper Access Control (CWE-284)
21Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

Nuclei detection template ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Nuclei detection template	Nuclei template CVE-2023-38205	—

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

CISA KEVJul 20, 2023-56 d
PublishedSep 14, 2023
TodayNov 3, 2026+1146 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).