High

Hard-coded Credentials Privilege Escalation in Adobe ColdFusion

IdentifiersCVE-2025-49551CWE-798· Use of Hard-coded Credentials

CVE-2025-49551 is a use of hard-coded credentials vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion affecting versions 2025.2, 2023.14, 2021.20, and earlier in the respective supported branches. The issue stems from the presence of a built-in account with a default password in an internal-facing ColdFusion component. An attacker who can reach the vulnerable component from the same network segment or another permitted internal address range can authenticate with the embedded credentials and obtain unauthorized access without requiring user interaction. The flaw is classified as CWE-798 and can be leveraged for privilege escalation and broader unauthorized access to ColdFusion-managed resources and connected systems.

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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 can allow an unauthenticated attacker with network adjacency or internal network reachability to gain unauthorized access to the affected ColdFusion environment using the built-in credentials. This can result in privilege escalation, compromise of sensitive application data, unauthorized administrative or system-level actions within the exposed component, and potential follow-on access to connected internal systems or services. The published severity indicates high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Mitigation

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

If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to ColdFusion servers and especially to the vulnerable internal-facing component so that only strictly necessary trusted hosts can reach it. Segment management and application infrastructure from untrusted or broadly accessible internal networks, enforce firewall or ACL controls around internal service exposure, and apply the vendor's lockdown and security configuration guidance. Updating the JDK/JRE and implementing recommended JVM security settings on JEE deployments can further reduce exposure while patches are being scheduled.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the vendor security updates that remediate the issue: upgrade Adobe ColdFusion 2025 to Update 3, ColdFusion 2023 to Update 15, and ColdFusion 2021 to Update 21. In addition, follow the vendor's recommended hardening guidance for ColdFusion deployments, ensure the underlying JDK/JRE is updated to a current supported LTS release, and apply associated security configuration recommendations for the platform.

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

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

2 SOURCESView more in app

csirt skNews

Jul 11, 2025

Kritické bezpečnostné zraniteľnosti v produktoch Adobe | CSIRT.SK

Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability caused by a built-in user account with a default password, enabling unauthorized system access from the same network segment without user interaction.

adobe-security-bulletinsNews

Jul 8, 2025

Adobe Security Bulletin

A critical vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion due to hard-coded credentials, allowing privilege escalation.

What this page doesn’t show

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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