Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-40698 affects Adobe ColdFusion and lets a logged-in attacker bypass a security feature. The stated impact is access to and manipulation of arbitrary data in the environment. The issue is high severity because it is network reachable, low complexity, and needs only low privileges, but the provided sources do not show active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority remediation item for any exposed or business-critical ColdFusion system. The main business concern is authenticated misuse leading to unauthorized data access or manipulation, not unauthenticated mass compromise based on the supplied evidence.
Technical view
Adobe ColdFusion 2021 update 1 and earlier, and 2018.10 and earlier, are affected by CWE-242 use of an inherently dangerous function. CVSS 3.1 is 7.4 with AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L, indicating authenticated remote exploitation with limited confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact across a changed scope.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where Adobe ColdFusion 2021 update 1 or earlier, or ColdFusion 2018.10 or earlier, remains deployed. Risk is higher when authenticated ColdFusion access is broadly available or reachable from untrusted networks.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not identify CISA KEV listing or any cited source confirming active exploitation. The known scenario requires an authenticated attacker with low privileges and network access; the public description does not provide exploit details.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description, CVSS vector, affected ColdFusion versions, CWE-242 classification, and Adobe advisory reference. Do not assume affected components, exploit maturity, indicators, or exact fixed builds beyond what Adobe APSB21-75 confirms.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all Adobe ColdFusion deployments and versions.
- Prioritize systems on ColdFusion 2021 update 1 or earlier.
- Prioritize systems on ColdFusion 2018.10 or earlier.
- Review and apply Adobe guidance in APSB21-75.
- Limit authenticated ColdFusion access to trusted users and networks where feasible.
Validation and detection
- Verify ColdFusion version and update level on each host.
- Compare deployed versions against the affected ranges in the CVE record.
- Confirm remediation status against Adobe APSB21-75 guidance.
- Review privileged and low-privileged account access to ColdFusion.
- Check logs for unusual authenticated access to sensitive data.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-242: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-40698 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L3.13.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.4HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb21-75.htmlCVE reference · vendor-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Use of Inherently Dangerous Function
Use of Inherently Dangerous Function represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.