Overview
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures system has identified a critical vulnerability in several versions of ColdFusion. Identified as CVE-2025-49535, this flaw exposes systems to an Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (XXE) vulnerability, allowing attackers to bypass security measures. The vulnerability is particularly concerning due to its potential to facilitate unauthorized access to sensitive information or cause denial of service.
The vulnerability affects ColdFusion versions 2025.2, 2023.14, 2021.20, and all earlier versions. What makes this vulnerability particularly serious is its capacity for exploitation without any user interaction, which makes it a substantial threat to data security and system integrity.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-49535
Severity: Critical (9.3/10)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
ColdFusion | 2025.2 and earlier
ColdFusion | 2023.14 and earlier
ColdFusion | 2021.20 and earlier
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of an XXE vulnerability in ColdFusion. An attacker can craft a malicious XML document containing an external entity declaration that points to a URI of the attacker’s choice. By sending this document to the vulnerable system, the attacker can trigger the system to dereference the external entity, leading to information disclosure, denial of service, or potentially remote code execution.
Conceptual Example Code
POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
<!ELEMENT foo ANY >
<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd" >]>
<foo>&xxe;</foo>In the above example, the attacker sends a POST request with a malicious XML payload that includes an external entity pointing to a sensitive file on the server. If the system is vulnerable, it will return the contents of this file in the response, revealing sensitive information to the attacker.
Mitigation Guidance
Affected systems should apply the patch provided by the vendor as soon as possible to mitigate the vulnerability. As a temporary measure, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used to filter out malicious XML content. However, this should not be considered a long-term solution, as it does not address the underlying vulnerability.