CriticalCVE-2013-0625

    Adobe ColdFusion Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2013-0625)

    Published In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org

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    What is affected, what to do

    Adobe ColdFusion 9.0, 9.0.1, and 9.0.2, when a password is not configured, allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in January 2013.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Adobe ColdFusion eq 9.0..9.0
    • Adobe ColdFusion eq 9.0.1..9.0.1
    • Adobe ColdFusion eq 9.0.2..9.0.2

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    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    93.8 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.84

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    228.74 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

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    actively exploited
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

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    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

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    93.8 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

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    99.84
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 4 February 2025
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-287

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This flaw is network-reachable without authentication or user interaction. It hands the attacker administrative control, which in practice means code execution on the server. It was mass-exploited in 2013 to plant webshells on internet-facing ColdFusion servers and remains among the CVEs most likely to be exploited today. Typical victims are forgotten legacy systems such as intranet portals, line-of-business apps at public bodies, universities and mid-market firms, where /CFIDE is visible from the internet. CISA does not flag ransomware use, but any internet-exposed CF9 instance should be treated as critical and taken offline or locked down immediately. Internal-only instances belong at the top of the legacy-retirement backlog.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory: Locate every Adobe ColdFusion 9.0, 9.0.1 and 9.0.2 instance. For example, scan for /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm on built-in web server port 8500 and on IIS/Apache connectors on 80/443. ColdFusion 9 has been out of vendor support for years, so treat every hit as a high-risk legacy asset.
      • Patch or retire: Adobe released a hotfix. Look up the exact version in the vendor advisory. The real target is migration to a currently supported ColdFusion release, not keeping CF9 alive.
      • Lock down admin interfaces now: Block external access to /CFIDE/administrator/, /CFIDE/adminapi/, /CFIDE/componentutils/ and /CFIDE/main/ at the reverse proxy or web server (return 403/404). Close port 8500 at the perimeter.
      • Set passwords: The flaw is triggered when no password is configured. Set a strong ColdFusion Administrator password. Disable RDS (Remote Development Services) or protect it with a separate password, and verify the settings in neo-security.xml.
      • Assume compromise on exposed hosts: Take a forensic image first. Then hunt the webroot and CFIDE for new .cfm/.cfc/.jsp files and review scheduled tasks in neo-cron.xml.
      • Rotate credentials: Treat datasource passwords, mail server accounts and service accounts stored in the ColdFusion Administrator as exposed, and rotate them.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: Move ColdFusion servers into a dedicated DMZ zone. Allow admin access only from a management VLAN or jump host. Apply default-deny egress so the server cannot reach the internet, which blocks webshell staging and second-stage downloads.
      • WAF/IPS: Block ^/CFIDE/(administrator|adminapi|componentutils|main)/ from untrusted sources, including the RDS endpoint /CFIDE/main/ide.cfm. Add an anomaly rule for POSTs to admin paths containing scheduletasks or scheduleedit.
      • Web server configuration: Remove the /CFIDE virtual directory mapping from public sites. Run the Administrator only on a separate, internally bound instance. Disable debug output and robust exception information.
      • Endpoint hardening: Run the ColdFusion/JRun service under a low-privilege service account rather than LocalSystem/root. Remove write permissions on the webroot. Use AppLocker/WDAC to block child processes such as cmd.exe and powershell.exe under jrun.exe.
      • IAM/least privilege: Restrict datasource accounts to minimal database rights (no sa/dbo). Create separate Administrator users with scoped roles.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Web access logs: Flag external IPs hitting /CFIDE/administrator/, /CFIDE/adminapi/ or /CFIDE/componentutils/. SPL: index=web uri_path="/CFIDE/*" (uri_path="*administrator*" OR uri_path="*adminapi*" OR uri_path="*componentutils*") NOT src_ip IN (mgmt_ranges) | stats count by src_ip, uri_path, status.
      • File integrity (Sysmon EID 11 / auditd): Alert on new .cfm, .cfc or .jsp files under CFIDE or the webroot, and on changes to neo-cron.xml and neo-security.xml. auditd: -w /opt/coldfusion9/lib/ -p wa -k cf_config.
      • Process ancestry (Sysmon EID 1 / EDR): Alert when jrun.exe or the CF java process spawns cmd.exe, powershell.exe, whoami, net.exe or sh/bash. Sigma shape: ParentImage|endswith: '\jrun.exe' AND Image|endswith: ['\cmd.exe','\powershell.exe'].
      • ColdFusion logs: Check scheduler.log and application.log for newly created scheduled tasks that write files into the webroot, the classic webshell drop pattern. Check server.log for admin activity with no preceding authentication event.
      • Network telemetry (Zeek/Suricata): Watch for unexpected outbound HTTP from the ColdFusion host and for inbound internet traffic to port 8500.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    Adobe ColdFusion 9.0, 9.0.1, and 9.0.2, when a password is not configured, allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, as exploited in the wild in January 2013.

    Source: NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog, CVE.org (MITRE)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    adobecoldfusion
    • 9.0
    • 9.0.1
    • 9.0.2
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-287Improper Authentication

      Class

      When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-287

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited

    References & sources

    • securityfocus.com57164Vulnerability database, x_refsource_BID, Broken link, Third-party advisory, Vulnerability database
    • adobe.comsupport/security/bulletins/apsb13-03.htmlx_refsource_CONFIRM, Not applicable
    • adobe.comsupport/security/advisories/apsa13-01.htmlx_refsource_CONFIRM, Vendor advisory
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2013-0625government-resource, US government resource
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