CVE-2025-49535VulnerabilityPublished 8 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-49535: Adobe ColdFusion · XXE

Affects Adobe ColdFusionSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.3 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.3Critical

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 51% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 8 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Adobe ColdFusion	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately assess their ColdFusion deployments to identify affected versions (2025.2, 2023.14, 2021.20, and earlier). In the absence of official patches, organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Restrict XML parser configurations to disable external entity processing or enable secure parsing modes that prevent XXE exploitation. 2) Apply network segmentation and strict access controls to limit internal IP address exposure of ColdFusion services, ensuring only trusted systems can communicate with vulnerable components. 3) Monitor internal network traffic for unusual XML requests or patterns indicative of XXE exploitation attempts. 4) Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block malicious XML payloads targeting ColdFusion. 5) Conduct internal vulnerability scanning and penetration testing focusing on XXE vectors to identify and remediate weaknesses proactively. 6) Prepare incident response plans for potential exploitation scenarios, including data breach containment and forensic analysis. 7) Stay updated with Adobe advisories for forthcoming patches and apply them promptly once available. These measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on configuration hardening, network controls, and proactive detection tailored to the internal network scope of the vulnerability.

Description

ColdFusion versions 2025.2, 2023.14, 2021.20 and earlier are affected by an Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') vulnerability that could result in a Security feature bypass. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to access sensitive information or denial of service by bypassing security measures. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction and scope is changed. The vulnerable component is restricted to internal IP addresses.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-49535 could be severe, especially for those relying on Adobe ColdFusion for web application development and deployment. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive internal data, including configuration files, credentials, or business-critical information, due to the XXE allowing access to internal resources. Additionally, denial of service conditions could disrupt business operations, impacting service availability and potentially causing financial and reputational damage. The fact that the vulnerable component is restricted to internal IP addresses suggests that attackers would need some level of network access, but this does not eliminate risk from insider threats, compromised internal hosts, or attackers who gain footholds within the network. Given the critical nature of the vulnerability and the lack of required authentication or user interaction, automated scanning and exploitation attempts could target European organizations, particularly those in sectors with high ColdFusion adoption such as government, finance, and manufacturing. The potential for lateral movement and broader compromise within internal networks raises concerns for data protection and compliance with regulations like GDPR, which mandates safeguarding personal data against unauthorized access.

CWE-611Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.
Implementation · System Configuration
Many XML parsers and validators can be configured to disable external entity expansion.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Data Serialization External Entities Blowup (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb25-69.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Jul 2025, 21:50 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-611

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats