Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-35690

Memory Safety in Adobe Coldfusion 2018 … 2021

High EPSSMemory Safety
Published
14 October 2022
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.72 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2022-35690 is a critical-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SC-7 (Boundary Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Adobe ColdFusion versions Update 14 and earlier as well as Update 4 and earlier contain a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-35690 and also associated with CWE-121 and CWE-787. The flaw resides in the server component that processes incoming network traffic and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8.

An unauthenticated attacker can trigger the issue by sending a specially crafted network packet to an affected ColdFusion server. Successful exploitation yields arbitrary code execution in the context of the user running the service and requires no user interaction.

The official Adobe security bulletin APSB22-44, available at https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion/apsb22-44.html, describes the patches released to address the vulnerability and recommends that administrators apply the updates for the respective ColdFusion release trains.

The associated EPSS score currently stands at 0.1470 with a recorded peak of 0.1588, indicating moderate but not sharply escalating exploitation interest since disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Adobe ColdFusion versions Update 14 (and earlier) and Update 4 (and earlier) are affected by a Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue does not…

more

require user interaction, the vulnerability is triggered when a crafted network packet is sent to the server.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Unauthenticated network packet triggers RCE on a public-facing ColdFusion server.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Executionconfidence: HIGH
Stack-based buffer overflow enables client-side exploitation for code execution.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalationconfidence: MEDIUM
Arbitrary code execution in service context can be leveraged for privilege escalation.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-35711Same product: Adobe Coldfusion
CVE-2023-29284Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2013-3346Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2023-21582Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2023-25861Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2023-29285Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2023-29282Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2023-29276Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2009-1862Same vendor: Adobe
CVE-2025-54274Same vendor: Adobe

Affected Assets

adobe
coldfusion
2018, 2021

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SC-7 Boundary Protection
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires timely application of the Adobe APSB22-44 patches that eliminate the stack-based buffer overflow in ColdFusion's network packet handler.

prevent

Boundary-protection mechanisms (firewalls, allow-lists, network segmentation) can block unauthenticated crafted packets from reaching the vulnerable ColdFusion listener.

prevent

Memory-protection controls (ASLR, DEP, stack canaries) raise the bar for successful exploitation of the stack-based overflow even if a malicious packet arrives.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References