CVE-2026-106619

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-106619 is an improper input validation vulnerability (CWE-20) in Adobe ColdFusion that can result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. The flaw is network-exploitable without authentication or user interaction, but requires conditions beyond the attacker's control (AC:H) and results in a changed security scope (S:C), yielding a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.0 (Critical). No patch, workaround, public PoC, Nuclei template, or CISA KEV listing currently exists, meaning affected ColdFusion deployments remain exposed with no vendor-supplied remediation path.

Technical Analysis

CVE-2026-106619 is classified under CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), the broadest input-handling weakness category. The NVD description states that ColdFusion "is affected by an Improper Input Validation vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user." The advisory does not identify the specific ColdFusion subsystem, endpoint, component, or parameter involved, and no CNA title was provided. Consequently, the following analysis is confined to what the vulnerability class and CVSS vector support, and no implementation-specific details (function names, endpoints, file paths, or parameters) are asserted because none are present in the source data.

Vulnerability class mechanics: CWE-20 arises when an application accepts and processes input without adequately validating its type, structure, length, or allowed character set. When that inadequately validated input reaches an interpreter, template engine, expression evaluator, or system call boundary, the practical result can be code or command execution. The NVD description explicitly maps this instance to arbitrary code execution, which indicates that the unvalidated input reaches an execution-capable sink somewhere in the ColdFusion processing path. The description does not disclose which sink, and no code-level evidence is available to identify it; the report therefore treats the execution path as unspecified.

Attack surface: ColdFusion is a Java-based application server that exposes significant network-reachable functionality, including web application endpoints, administrative interfaces, and remote development/integration services. The CVSS vector confirms the network attack surface (AV:N) and confirms no authentication is required (PR:N). The description also confirms no user interaction is required (UI:N), meaning exploitation does not depend on tricking a victim into clicking, opening, or submitting anything — the attacker interacts with the target service directly.

Exploitation prerequisites: The CVSS vector specifies AC:H (High attack complexity), and the NVD description adds that "Exploit depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control." Both signals indicate that exploitation is not a single deterministic request. Successful exploitation likely requires a favorable combination of environmental or runtime state that the attacker cannot fully dictate. The description does not enumerate those conditions, and this report does not speculate about specifics.

Scope change: The vector asserts S:C (Scope Changed), meaning a successful exploit is assessed to affect resources beyond the vulnerable component's own security authority — consistent with arbitrary code execution escaping the intended trust boundary of the application component into the surrounding runtime context.

Impact triad: C:H/I:H/A:H indicates full loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for the impacted scope. The execution context is stated as "the current user," i.e., the privilege level under which the vulnerable ColdFusion service operates.

No exploit artifacts: No public PoC, no exploit code, and no Nuclei template exist per tracked sources. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV, and no EPSS score has been published by FIRST.org. No affected version ranges, OSV package mappings, vendor fix, or workaround were supplied. This is a materially intelligence-poor disclosure: the class and impact are clear, the exact mechanism is not.

Exploitation Scenarios

No public PoC is available; the attack chain below is inferred from the vulnerability class (CWE-20 → arbitrary code execution) and the CVSS vector only. No specific function names, endpoints, parameters, or file paths are asserted, because none appear in the provided NVD description or CNA title.

1. Reconnaissance and target identification. An attacker enumerates internet- or intranet-reachable ColdFusion instances. In the absence of a disclosed vulnerable endpoint, the attacker's reconnaissance focuses on fingerprinting ColdFusion deployments and identifying which input-accepting surfaces are exposed. Because the advisory does not name the vulnerable component, reconnaissance cannot be narrowed to a specific endpoint from public information alone — an attacker would need independent discovery or reverse engineering of the target's input-handling behavior.

2. Triggering the flaw. The attacker submits crafted input to an exposed ColdFusion input-handling surface. The defining characteristic is that the input fails validation and is passed onward to execution-capable processing. The AC:H rating and the "conditions beyond the attacker's control" language indicate the trigger is state- or configuration-dependent and may not succeed on every attempt or against every instance. No further trigger detail is derivable from the provided data.

3. Execution. Consistent with CWE-20 leading to arbitrary code execution, the malformed input is processed in a context that permits code execution under the ColdFusion service account. The mechanism by which input becomes executable code is not disclosed and is not fabricated here.

4. Post-exploitation. Successful exploitation yields code execution as the ColdFusion service user. Given S:C, the impact scope extends beyond the vulnerable component. From an initial execution foothold, an operator would typically pursue credential access from ColdFusion configuration and data stores, lateral movement into connected databases and internal services, and persistence. The description itself does not characterize post-exploitation behavior, and nothing here should be read as attacker-attributed activity.

Unauthenticated (PR:N) and no-interaction (UI:N) exploitation means the barrier to attempting an attack is low; the barrier to succeeding is the AC:H precondition set. Absent a patch, defenders cannot close the vulnerability and must rely on exposure reduction and monitoring.

Impact Assessment

CVSS 3.1 base score 9.0 (Critical), vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

• AV:N (Network): exploitable remotely; the attack surface is reachable over the network, which for a ColdFusion server typically includes HTTP(S) and any exposed ColdFusion services.
• AC:H (High complexity): success depends on conditions outside the attacker's control. This moderates the practical exploitability relative to the nominal score but does not eliminate risk, particularly where those conditions are stable in a given environment.
• PR:N (No privileges required): no prior authentication or account is needed.
• UI:N (No user interaction): no victim action is required; the attacker directly targets the service.
• S:C (Scope Changed): impact extends beyond the vulnerable component's own security authority.
• C:H/I:H/A:H: total loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability within the impacted scope.

Business impact: Arbitrary code execution inside a ColdFusion service can expose application data, session material, configuration secrets and database credentials, and can serve as a pivot into internal networks and downstream data stores. ColdFusion frequently fronts business-critical web applications, customer portals, and internal integrations, so a compromised instance can have broad blast radius affecting the confidentiality of customer data, the integrity of transactions, and service availability.

Blast radius considerations: because no affected version range was published, defenders cannot scope by version and must treat all in-scope ColdFusion deployments as potentially affected until the vendor clarifies. The combination of unauthenticated, no-interaction exploitation with no available patch and no workaround means the residual risk for internet-exposed instances is elevated despite the AC:H precondition. The absence of CISA KEV listing indicates no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation has been recorded by CISA at the time of this report; it does not indicate the vulnerability is unexploitable.

Detection Guidance

Detection strategy given an undisclosed mechanism: because the vulnerable endpoint/parameter is unknown, network and log detection must be behavioral and generic — targeting unexpected input reaching ColdFusion and anomalous process activity spawned by the ColdFusion service — rather than signature-based against a known payload. The rules below are deliberately generic and should be tuned to the local environment.

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Child Process Spawned by ColdFusion Service
id: 7f3a1c62-5b9e-4d21-9a0e-1c6d2f8b4e77
status: experimental
description: Detects process creation indicative of code execution originating from a ColdFusion service context, consistent with CVE-2026-106619 (arbitrary code execution via improper input validation).
references:
  - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-106619
author: Threat Intelligence
date: 2026/01/01
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_parent:
    ParentImage|endswith:
      - '\coldfusion.exe'
      - '\jrun.exe'
  selection_children:
    Image|endswith:
      - '\cmd.exe'
      - '\powershell.exe'
      - '\pwsh.exe'
      - '\wscript.exe'
      - '\cscript.exe'
      - '\mshta.exe'
      - '\certutil.exe'
      - '\curl.exe'
  condition: selection_parent and selection_children
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate administrative scripts scheduled by ColdFusion application logic
  - Scheduled tasks executed under the ColdFusion service identity
level: high
tags:
  - attack.t1190
  - cve.2026.106619

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2026_106619_ColdFusion_Input_Validation_Exploit
{
    meta:
        description = "Generic hunting rule for ColdFusion exploitation attempts abusing improper input validation (CVE-2026-106619). Matches common webshell and code-execution staging indicators in ColdFusion web directories. Generic and prone to false positives."
        author = "Threat Intelligence"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-106619"
        date = "2026-01-01"
        severity = "high"
        tlp = "WHITE"

    strings:
        $cf1 = "cfexecute" ascii nocase
        $cf2 = "createObject" ascii nocase
        $cf3 = "Runtime.getRuntime" ascii nocase
        $cf4 = "ProcessBuilder" ascii nocase
        $loader1 = "ClassLoader" ascii nocase
        $loader2 = "defineClass" ascii nocase
        $shell1 = "eval(" ascii nocase
        $shell2 = "base64_decode" ascii nocase
        $jsp1   = "<%@" ascii
        $jsp2   = "java.lang.Runtime" ascii

    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x3C25 or
        (2 of ($cf*) and 1 of ($loader*, $shell*)) or
        (all of ($jsp*) and 1 of ($loader*, $shell*))
}

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2026-106619 ColdFusion Improper Input Validation - Suspicious Code Execution Payload"; flow:established,to_server; http.method; content:"POST"; http.header; content:"ColdFusion"; nocase; http.request_body; content:"cfexecute"; nocase; http.request_body; content:"java.lang.Runtime"; nocase; threshold:type limit, track by_src, count 5, seconds 60; classtype:attempted-admin; reference:cve,2026-106619; reference:url,nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-106619; sid:2026106619; rev:1;)

Elastic Detection

sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=10s
  [process where process.parent.name in ("coldfusion.exe","jrun.exe") and event.type == "start"]
  [process where event.type == "start" and process.name in ("cmd.exe","powershell.exe","pwsh.exe","wscript.exe","cscript.exe","mshta.exe","certutil.exe","curl.exe")]

Splunk SPL Query

index=web OR index=coldfusion sourcetype=access_combined OR sourcetype=coldfusion_log
| search (uri_path="*" AND (uri_query="*cfexecute*" OR uri_query="*Runtime*" OR uri_query="*ClassLoader*" OR uri_query="*base64*"))
    OR (cs_uri_query="*%00*" OR cs_uri_query="*${*" OR cs_uri_query="*<script*")
| stats count min(_time) as first_seen max(_time) as last_seen values(uri_path) as paths by src_ip, host
| where count > 3
| eval first_seen=strftime(first_seen,"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"), last_seen=strftime(last_seen,"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
| sort - count

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<group name="coldfusion,cve_2026_106619,">
  <rule id="106619" level="12">
    <if_sid>31100,31101,31103</if_sid>
    <match>cfexecute|java.lang.Runtime|ClassLoader|ProcessBuilder</match>
    <description>CVE-2026-106619: Possible ColdFusion exploitation - suspicious code execution token in web request</description>
    <mitre>
      <id>T1190</id>
    </mitre>
    <group>attack,exploit_attempt,</group>
  </rule>

  <rule id="106620" level="12">
    <if_sid>59200</if_sid>
    <field name="win.eventdata.parentImage">coldfusion.exe|jrun.exe</field>
    <field name="win.eventdata.image">cmd.exe|powershell.exe|wscript.exe|mshta.exe|certutil.exe</field>
    <description>CVE-2026-106619: Suspicious child process spawned by ColdFusion service</description>
    <mitre>
      <id>T1190</id>
    </mitre>
    <group>attack,exploit_attempt,</group>
  </rule>
</group>

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch confidence: 0/4 (UNPATCHED — no patch evidence from any tracked source). No vendor fix, no workaround, and no affected version range were provided by any tracked source. The guidance below is therefore provisional and must be validated against any future vendor advisory.

1. Immediate mitigations

• Reduce exposure: restrict network access to ColdFusion instances to trusted networks only. Remove direct internet exposure where operationally possible; where not possible, front the service with a WAF and strict allowlisting.
• Disable or restrict administrative and remote integration interfaces that are not strictly required, and enforce authentication on everything that remains reachable.
• Run the ColdFusion service under a least-privilege, non-interactive service account with no interactive logon rights and minimal filesystem permissions, to constrain the impact of code execution "in the context of the current user."
• Apply egress filtering so that a compromised ColdFusion host cannot readily beacon or move laterally.
• Monitor vendor channels for an affected-version list; until published, treat all in-scope versions as potentially affected.

2. Patch / upgrade steps

• No patch exists as of this report. Establish a process to apply the vendor fix immediately upon release: track the Adobe ColdFusion security bulletin page and the NVD entry for CVE-2026-106619.
• Pre-stage change control and rollback plans so the eventual update can be deployed without delay across all exposed instances.
• Inventory all ColdFusion deployments now — including embedded or forgotten instances — because the absence of a version range prevents version-based scoping.

3. Long-term hardening

• Adopt a recurring patch-management cadence for application servers and enable automatic notifications for ColdFusion security bulletins.
• Institutionalize input validation and output encoding at the application layer, since CWE-20 is the root class here; do not rely on the platform to sanitize all inputs.
• Enforce network segmentation between application servers, databases, and internal services to limit lateral movement.
• Deploy the process-level and web-log detection above, and tune it against legitimate application behavior to reduce false positives.
• Maintain immutable, centralized logging for ColdFusion and host process telemetry to support retrospective hunting given the current lack of a known exploit signature.

References

• NVD — CVE-2026-106619: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-106619
• CWE-20: Improper Input Validation: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/20.html
• MITRE ATT&CK T1190 — Exploit Public-Facing Application: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1190/
• Adobe ColdFusion Security Bulletins (monitor for CVE-2026-106619 advisory and affected versions): https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/coldfusion.html
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (verify status; CVE-2026-106619 not listed at time of report): https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

Threat actor and in-the-wild notes: No exploit-in-the-wild evidence, threat-actor attribution, or campaign data is available. CVE-2026-106619 is not listed in CISA KEV, no public PoC or exploit code exists per tracked sources, and no EPSS score has been published by FIRST.org. ColdFusion has historically been a high-value target for mass exploitation when unauthenticated code-execution flaws are disclosed, so defenders should monitor this CVE closely even though active exploitation has not yet been confirmed.