Adobe ColdFusion Is On Fire Again, Because Of Course It Fucking Is
Right then, here’s the short version for the sleep-deprived, patch-allergic muppets in the back: a max-severity Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability is now being actively exploited in the wild. Yes, actively exploited, as in not theoretical, not “maybe someday,” but right-fucking-now. The bug is tracked as CVE-2024-20767, and it’s an arbitrary file system read issue that can let attackers access sensitive files on vulnerable servers. Which is just splendid if you enjoy strangers rummaging through your digital underwear drawer.
Adobe patched this delightful mess back in March as part of ColdFusion 2021 Update 12 and ColdFusion 2023 Update 6. And, as is tradition, a depressing number of people apparently didn’t bother patching their systems, because why fix a critical remote issue when you can instead wait for some gobshite on the internet to do it for you with a crowbar?
According to the report, attackers are exploiting the flaw to read files and gather useful information from compromised servers. Once they’ve got that, it’s not exactly a massive leap to chaining the bug with other weaknesses, escalating access, and generally making an unholy shitshow of your environment. ColdFusion has had a long, embarrassing history of security problems, and this is just another entry in the ongoing saga of “Why the hell is this internet-facing?”
The warning is simple enough that even management should be able to grasp it: if you’re running vulnerable ColdFusion versions and haven’t patched, you need to stop screwing about and update immediately. If you can’t patch right away, then isolate the server, restrict access, monitor for suspicious activity, and start praying to whatever dead technology gods you worship. Because once exploitation is public and underway, the window for “we’ll do it next maintenance cycle” closes faster than an admin terminal when the CIO walks by.
Bottom line: max-severity bug, active attacks, available patch, and the usual herd of lazy bastards still leaving the door open with a “please rob me” sign hanging off it. Patch your ColdFusion servers before some enterprising little shit reads what they shouldn’t and turns your week into a full-blown incident response migraine.
Anecdote time: years ago, some clown insisted a crusty old app server was “too critical to patch.” Two days later it was compromised, the logs were a smoking crater, and suddenly everyone discovered the budget for emergency response. Funny how that works. Patch first, whine later.
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