High

Security feature bypass / improper access control in Adobe ColdFusion Administrator endpoints

IdentifiersCVE-2023-26347CWE-284· Improper Access Control

Adobe ColdFusion versions 2023.5 and earlier and 2021.11 and earlier contain an improper access control flaw that can result in a security feature bypass. An unauthenticated attacker can leverage the issue to access ColdFusion administration CFM and CFC endpoints (i.e., Administrator-related endpoints) without authentication. Exploitation does not require user interaction.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated access to ColdFusion Administrator CFM/CFC endpoints, bypassing intended access controls. This increases the likelihood of follow-on compromise (e.g., administrative actions and further exploitation paths) and is associated with active exploitation activity in the wild per referenced reporting.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, restrict/lock down exposure to ColdFusion Administrator/CFIDE and related admin CFM/CFC endpoints (e.g., network-level access controls to trusted management networks only). Monitor for suspicious unauthenticated requests to admin endpoints and for exploitation verification patterns (e.g., OAST/JNDI callback indicators) as described in threat reporting.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply Adobe’s security updates for ColdFusion that address APSB23-52: upgrade ColdFusion 2023 to Update 6 (or later) and ColdFusion 2021 to Update 12 (or later). Also update the underlying supported JDK/JRE per Adobe guidance and apply Adobe-recommended security configurations/lockdown guidance.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

AdobeColdfusionapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

7 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

7 SOURCESView more in app

secpod blogNews

Jan 6, 2026

Mass Exploitation Campaign Targeting Adobe ColdFusion Servers Detected During Christmas Holiday

An access control bypass vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

securityaffairsNews

Jan 3, 2026

Thousands of ColdFusion exploit attempts spotted during Christmas holiday

An access control bypass vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion, exploited in a coordinated campaign.

securityaffairsNews

Jan 3, 2026

Thousands of ColdFusion exploit attempts spotted during Christmas holiday

An access control bypass vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion, exploited in a coordinated campaign.

the hacker newsNews

Jan 1, 2026

ThreatsDay Bulletin: GhostAd Drain, macOS Attacks, Proxy Botnets, Cloud Exploits, and 12+ Stories

A vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion exploited as part of a coordinated campaign for code execution, credential harvesting, and JNDI lookups.

+3 more in the timeline

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2023-26347

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-26347

MITRE CWE · CWE-284

Improper Access Control

Vendor Advisory

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb23-52.html