Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2025-61823 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611) vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 35th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to CM-6 (Configuration Settings) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-202348
Vulnerability Data
ColdFusion versions 2025.4, 2023.16, 2021.22 and earlier are affected by an Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary file system read. A high privileged attacker could exploit this vulnerability to access sensitive files…
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and data on the server. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction and scope is changed.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
XXE vulnerability in ColdFusion (public-facing application) directly enables arbitrary file read via XML external entity processing, mapping to T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly blocks the malicious XML input containing external entity references that ColdFusion's parser would otherwise resolve to read arbitrary files.
Enforces secure XML parser configuration settings (disable external entities, disable DTDs) that eliminate the root cause of this XXE flaw in ColdFusion.
Boundary protection can restrict outbound network or file-system access initiated by the XML parser during entity resolution, limiting the impact of successful XXE exploitation.
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.
Hardened XML parser configurations directly disable external entity resolution.
Secure SDLC practices include input validation and safe XML parser configuration that prevent XXE.
Vulnerability scanning can discover XXE flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.
Patching eliminates XXE-vulnerable parser versions but is only one aspect of software maintenance.
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.
Security testing in development catches XXE via static analysis and dynamic XML fuzzing.
Vulnerability management identifies and patches XML libraries with unsafe default entity settings.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and entity handling that directly prevents XXE.
Application security requirements explicitly call for disabling external entity processing in XML parsers.
Secure architecture principles include safe parser configuration that mitigates external entity risks.
Secure coding standards require disabling DTDs and external entities in XML processing.