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CVE-2023-38203

Deserialization of Untrusted Data: Is CVE-2023-38203 real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community verdict.

Community verdict: No field verdicts yet. Be the first practitioner to weigh in.

signals

public sources

Exploited in wild
Yes
CISA KEV · Jan 8, 2024
Public exploit
None known
Metasploit/EDB/PoC
Base severity
9.8 Critical
CVSS
Exploitation prob.
97%
FIRST EPSS
Weakness
CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data
CWE

Confirmed exploited in the wild. Patch this first, regardless of the base score.

cisa ssvc

CISA Vulnrichment · assessed

Exploitation
Active
in the wild
Automatable
Yes
at scale
Technical impact
Total
on success

CISA decision, by how critical the affected system is to you:

  • low impact → Attend
  • medium impact → Act
  • high impact → Act

Track: normal patch cycle · Track*: watch closely · Attend: patch sooner · Act: patch now. About SSVC ↗

baseline read

auto · not a community verdict

Real — exploited in the wild

CISA confirms active exploitation. Treat scanner hits as true positives unless your specific version or config is unaffected.

Based on CISA KEV

Confirm or dispute →
Affected:Adobe

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

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.

Published · Added to CISA KEV (172 days after publication)

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timeline

  1. CISA SSVC assessment · exploitation: active
  2. Added to CISA KEV · confirmed exploited in the wild
  3. Published by NVD
  4. Added to VulnCheck KEV · reported exploited in the wild

Score and exploit changes tracked since .

Community ground truth

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In your experience, is this finding real and exploitable?

awaiting field verdicts
Real, but not a risk here
Not a real issue

Curated baseline: TruePositive's read from public sources is Real & exploitable — a starting point, not a community verdict.

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Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal. Notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability — Adobe ColdFusion contains a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability that allows for code execution. Listed in the CISA KEV catalog (added 2024-01-08) — confirmed exploited in the wild, not theoretical. It is linked to known ransomware campaigns. FIRST EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at ~97%. Treat it as real and prioritize remediation over triage.

  • 0
    Remediation · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    Required action for Adobe ColdFusion: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. CISA set a federal remediation due date of 2024-01-29. After patching, verify the vulnerable path is no longer reachable before closing the finding.

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Same weakness: CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data.