CriticalCVE-2026-48282

    ColdFusion | Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') (CWE-22) (CVE-2026-48282)

    Published Last modified In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org, pwn.watch, Adobe, BSI

    What is affected, what to do

    The vulnerability CVE-2026-48282 is a path traversal vulnerability leading to remote code execution (RCE). An attacker can execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user without requiring user interaction. This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild, as evidenced by its listing in the CISA KEV catalog. Affected products include all Adobe ColdFusion versions prior to 2023.21. An immediate update to version 2023.21 is strongly recommended to mitigate this risk.

    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 2025 lte *..9
    • Adobe ColdFusion 2023 lte *..20

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    10.0

    Priority

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

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    10.0

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org, pwn.watch, Adobe, BSI

    42.4 %

    EPSS score

    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 98.7

    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
    247.77 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.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploitedSource: VulnCheck KEV (opens in a new tab) How we classify
    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.

    Read in glossary
    10.0 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
    10.0
    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“.

    Read in glossary
    42.4 %
    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.
    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.

    Read in glossary
    98.7
    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 8 July 2026
    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-22

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This flaw is network-reachable without authentication or user interaction, and the changed scope pushes it to the top of the severity scale. Exploitation likelihood is very high — it ranks among the CVEs most likely to be exploited. ColdFusion has been a long-standing favourite for webshell drops and initial access, typically against public sector, education and mid-market organisations running legacy web applications. CISA does not flag known ransomware use, but that should not lower urgency. Treat internet-facing instances as critical and patch or isolate them within 24 hours; handle internal-only instances in the next emergency maintenance window.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory all instances: Find every ColdFusion 2023 and 2025 instance, including dev/test boxes, forgotten legacy installs and servers sitting behind reverse proxies. Check the update level in ColdFusion Administrator or under cfusion/hf-updates. Affected versions are ColdFusion 2025 Update 9, ColdFusion 2023 Update 20, and all earlier releases.

      • Apply the security update: Install the update that supersedes 2025 Update 9 and 2023 Update 20. The patch is available from the vendor — look up the exact version and APSB bulletin number in the Adobe advisory. Patch internet-facing hosts first and restart the ColdFusion service afterwards.

      • Cut exposure now: If you cannot patch within hours, block internet access at the perimeter to these paths and ports:

        • /CFIDE/, /cf_scripts/, /CFIDE/administrator/, /CFIDE/adminapi/
        • the built-in web server port 8500

        Alternatively, put the server behind VPN or an IP allowlist.

      • Hunt before you patch: Sweep the webroot (cfusion/wwwroot, CFIDE, cf_scripts) and application directories for new or modified .cfm, .cfc and .jsp files since early 2026. Patching does not remove webshells that are already in place.

      • Rotate credentials on suspicion: If you find signs of compromise, rotate the following:

        • admin password, RDS password
        • datasource credentials (neo-datasource.xml) and the seed.properties keys
        • the ColdFusion service account

      • Check reporting obligations: If a NIS2-scoped or KRITIS application is compromised, prepare the 24-hour early warning to BSI or your national CSIRT.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation:
        • Place ColdFusion servers in a dedicated DMZ zone.
        • Default-deny egress, allowing only required destinations (database, update servers). This kills payload staging and reverse shells.
        • Make the Administrator UI reachable only from the admin VLAN.
      • WAF/IPS:
        • Block requests to ColdFusion paths that contain traversal sequences: ../, ..\, %2e%2e, ..%2f, %252e%252e, ..;/, %c0%ae in the URI, query string or body.
        • Drop uploads with .cfm, .cfml, .cfc or .jsp extensions.
        • Enable vendor IPS signatures for this CVE as soon as your provider ships them.
      • Configuration hardening:
        • Apply the Adobe ColdFusion Lockdown Guide or lockdown installer.
        • Disable unused services: RDS, /CFIDE/ on the production web server, the cf_scripts mapping, remote debugging.
        • Turn off the built-in web server (8500) and serve only through IIS or Apache via the connector.
      • Filesystem and execution controls:
        • Make the webroot read-only for the service account.
        • Keep upload directories outside the webroot and prevent script execution there.
        • Enable file integrity monitoring (FIM) on the webroot and cfusion/lib.
      • Least privilege: Run ColdFusion under a dedicated, non-admin service account, never as LocalSystem or root. Because code runs in the service user's context, this directly limits the blast radius of a successful exploit.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Web server logs (IIS/Apache/ColdFusion): Look for traversal patterns on ColdFusion paths.
        • Splunk: index=web uri_path IN ("/CFIDE/*","/cf_scripts/*","*.cfm","*.cfc") | regex _raw="(\.\./|\.\.\\\\|%2e%2e|%252e|\.\.;)"
        • Prioritise hits returning HTTP 200 and any requests touching password.properties, neo-security.xml or seed.properties.
      • Process ancestry (Sysmon EID 1 / Security 4688): ParentImage ends in coldfusion.exe, or java.exe/javaw.exe under a *\ColdFusion* path, and spawns cmd.exe, powershell.exe, certutil.exe, whoami.exe or rundll32.exe.
        • Sigma shape: selection: ParentImage|contains: 'ColdFusion' and Image|endswith: ['\cmd.exe','\powershell.exe','\certutil.exe','\whoami.exe']
      • File creation (Sysmon EID 11 / auditd): New .cfm, .cfc or .jsp files under wwwroot or CFIDE written by the ColdFusion process. On Linux:
        • auditd rule: -w /opt/ColdFusion*/cfusion/wwwroot -p wa -k cf_webroot
        • Alert on hits where exe=*java*.
      • Linux EDR: The ColdFusion service user's Java process spawns /bin/sh, bash, curl, wget or nc.
        • KQL: DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFolderPath has "ColdFusion" and FileName in~ ("sh","bash","curl","wget","nc","cmd.exe","powershell.exe")
      • Network (Zeek/Suricata): Unusual outbound connections from the ColdFusion host to external IPs on non-standard ports. Also watch for DNS lookups of newly registered domains shortly after suspicious HTTP requests.

    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

    ColdFusion versions 2025.9, 2023.20 and earlier are affected by an Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction. Scope is changed.

    Source: NVD (NIST), pwn.watch, cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog, adobe_bulletin, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

    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 2023
    • ≤ 20
    • —
    AdobeColdFusion 2025
    • ≤ 9
    • —
    adobecoldfusion
    • 2025
    • 2023
    • —
    • —
    AdobeColdFusion
    • ColdFusion 2023 <Update 21
    • ColdFusion 2025 <Update 10
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

      Base

      The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-22

    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
    PoC-in-GitHub (nomi-sec)cve-2026-48282-coldfusion-rds-detection (opens in a new tab)github.comPoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified

    References & sources

    • helpx.adobe.comAdobe ColdFusion — CVE-2026-48282Vendor advisory, pwn-watch, Vendor advisory
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48282government-resource, US government resource
    • pwn.watchpwn.watch: Adobe ColdFusion: Adobe ColdFusion Path Traversal Vulnerabilitypwn-watch
    • NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2026-48282pwn-watch
    • cisa.govCISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogpwn-watch

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: yes

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      SSVC assessmentremoved
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-06-30T00:00:00+00:00"}
      —
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-07-08T03:56:31.827098Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    2. Record modifiedAdobe

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/48xxx/CVE-2026-48282.json">CVE-2026-48282</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb26-68.html
      Referenceremoved
      https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb26-68.html
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb26-68.html Types: Vendor Advisory
      —

      Source identifier: psirt@adobe.com

    3. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      Show 3 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48282
      Referenceremoved
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48282
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48282 Types: US Government Resource
      —

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    4. Record modifiedAdobe

      1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)changed
      ColdFusion
      ColdFusion 2025, ColdFusion 2023

      Source identifier: psirt@adobe.com

    5. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: yes

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      SSVC assessmentchanged
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-07-07T19:45:05.459097Z"}
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-06-30T00:00:00+00:00"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Show 3 older changes

    1. CISA KEV entry updated9119a7d8…

      4 individual changes: Date Added, Due Date, Required Action, Vulnerability Name

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Date Addedadded
      —
      2026-07-07
      Due Dateadded
      —
      2026-07-07
      Required Actionadded
      —
      2026-07-07
      Vulnerability Nameadded
      —
      2026-07-07

      Source identifier: 9119a7d8-5eab-497f-8521-727c672e3725

    2. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: yes

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48282
      SSVC assessmentchanged
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-06-30T00:00:00+00:00"}
      {"id":"CVE-2026-48282","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-07-07T19:45:05.459097Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    3. Initial analysis by NVDNVD

      Newly listed as affected:
      • Adobe ColdFusion (2023, 2023-update1, 2023-update10, 2023-update11, 2023-update12, 2023-update13 and 25 more individual versions)
      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationadded
      —
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update4:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update5:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update7:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update6:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update8:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update9:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update11:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update10:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update12:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update13:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update14:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update15:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update16:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update4:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update5:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update18:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update6:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update17:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update19:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update7:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update8:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2023:update20:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:adobe:coldfusion:2025:update9:*:*:*:*:*:*
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Adobe Systems Incorporated: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb26-68.html Types: Vendor Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

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    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-48282"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-48282.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-48282 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>