Threats / Adobe / CVE-2023-38203
CVE-2023-38203
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability
Adobe ColdFusion contains a deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) enabling remote code execution. The flaw has been exploited in the wild and leveraged in ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
Critical remote code execution via unsafe deserialization in ColdFusion. Active exploitation and ransomware deployment confirm severe real-world risk. Immediate patching required for all affected instances.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
11 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-01-08), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.97003 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Adobe, ColdFusion. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious serialized object and send it to a ColdFusion endpoint that deserializes untrusted input without validation.
Business
Attacker gains arbitrary code execution on the server, establishing initial compromise.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute system commands to establish persistence, escalate privileges, and move laterally across the network.
Business
Attacker deepens foothold and expands access to critical systems and data repositories.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I deploy ransomware payloads across compromised infrastructure to encrypt business-critical data and systems.
Business
Operations halt, data becomes inaccessible, and ransom demands threaten revenue and reputation.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05