CVE-2013-0632

What is Adobe ColdFusion?

Adobe ColdFusion is an enterprise application server platform widely deployed in government agencies, financial institutions, and large enterprises for building and hosting web applications. ColdFusion Administrator is the web-based management console that controls all aspects of the ColdFusion server — datasource configurations, deployed applications, security settings, and server resources. Unauthorized access to ColdFusion Administrator is equivalent to full server compromise.

Overview

CVE-2013-0632 is an authentication bypass vulnerability arising from incorrect default permissions (CWE-276) in Adobe ColdFusion. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass ColdFusion's authentication controls and gain administrative access to the ColdFusion Administrator interface. This is distinct from but related to CVE-2013-0625 (patched eight days earlier in APSB13-03): while both are authentication bypasses, CVE-2013-0632 specifically involves incorrect default permissions configuration — the default permission settings grant access that should require authentication.

Adobe addressed this in APSB13-03 coverage.

Affected Versions

Technical Details

CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions) describes a class of vulnerability where software ships with default access controls that are more permissive than intended. In ColdFusion's case, certain administrative endpoints or internal interfaces had default permission configurations that did not enforce authentication — meaning that any request reaching those endpoints would be treated as authorized.

This differs from CVE-2013-0625 (which exploits the authentication mechanism's logic to bypass checks) in that CVE-2013-0632 exploits the absence of authentication enforcement at certain endpoints due to misconfigured defaults. An attacker only needs to know the URL pattern for the insufficiently protected endpoint to gain administrative access without presenting credentials.

The practical impact is identical to CVE-2013-0625: unauthenticated administrative access to ColdFusion, enabling file operations, credential disclosure, and webshell deployment.

Discovery

Discovered through security research into ColdFusion's access control model, and published eight days after the initial APSB13-03 bulletin.

Exploitation Context

CISA confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. The two ColdFusion authentication bypass vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-0625 and CVE-2013-0632) were both actively exploited against internet-exposed ColdFusion servers in early 2013. Attacks against ColdFusion during this period targeted government and critical infrastructure organizations, with attackers installing persistent ColdFusion webshells (.cfm files) that survived patching.

Remediation

1. Apply APSB13-03 on all affected ColdFusion installations
2. Restrict network access to ColdFusion Administrator to management/internal networks only — it must never be directly internet-facing
3. Apply Adobe's ColdFusion lockdown guide to harden default permission settings
4. After patching, audit the ColdFusion web root for unexpected .cfm files that may represent persistently installed webshells from prior exploitation
5. Review ColdFusion event logs and web server access logs for indicators of prior unauthorized administrative access
6. Rotate all ColdFusion Administrator credentials and datasource (database) passwords as a precaution after any suspected compromise