What is CVE-2023-38203?

CVE-2023-38203 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2023-07-20.

How severe is CVE-2023-38203?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2023-38203 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2023-38203 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-01-08), indicating it is being actively exploited. 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Deserialization in Adobe Coldfusion

CVE-2023-38203

Adobe ColdFusion versions 2018u17 (and earlier), 2021u7 (and earlier) and 2023u1 (and earlier) are affected by a Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability that could result in Arbitrary code execution. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

Published 2023-07-20 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.971 (99.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-15.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.971 · newest: 0.971 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Adobe Coldfusion — versions 2023, 2018, 0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2024-01-08. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2024-01-29.

Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Known ransomware campaign use: yes.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

Ostorlab/KEV

References

helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb23-41.html (vendor-advisory, Patch, Vendor Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-38203?: CVE-2023-38203 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2023-07-20.
How severe is CVE-2023-38203?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-38203 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2023-38203 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-01-08), indicating it is being actively exploited. 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.