CVE-2012-5675 in ColdFusion
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe ColdFusion 9.0 through 9.0.2, and 10, allows local users to bypass intended shared-hosting sandbox permissions via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/29/2024
Adobe ColdFusion versions 9.0 through 9.0.2 and version 10 contain a critical security vulnerability that enables local attackers to circumvent shared-hosting sandbox restrictions through unspecified attack vectors. This vulnerability represents a significant bypass of the application server's security model designed to isolate multiple tenants in shared hosting environments. The flaw allows malicious users with local access to potentially escalate their privileges and gain unauthorized access to resources that should remain restricted within the sandboxed environment.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation mechanisms within the ColdFusion runtime environment that governs access controls between different user contexts. In shared hosting scenarios, ColdFusion instances typically implement sandboxing to prevent one tenant's applications from accessing another tenant's data or system resources. The vulnerability exploits weaknesses in how these sandbox boundaries are enforced, potentially allowing local users to execute operations that should be restricted based on user permissions or application context. This represents a failure in the principle of least privilege enforcement that is fundamental to secure multi-tenant architectures.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally undermines the security model of shared hosting environments where multiple customers rely on the isolation provided by the application server. Attackers could potentially access sensitive data from other tenants, execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, or disrupt services within the shared hosting infrastructure. The vulnerability affects organizations using ColdFusion in multi-tenant deployments where security isolation is paramount, making it particularly concerning for cloud service providers and hosting companies that rely on ColdFusion for their infrastructure.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues in software systems, and reflects the broader category of sandbox escape attacks that target containerization and multi-tenant security boundaries. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and potentially to initial access vectors when local system compromise occurs. Organizations should consider implementing additional monitoring and access control measures beyond the default ColdFusion security model to detect unauthorized access attempts. The remediation strategy involves applying the vendor-provided patches and updates that address the underlying access control mechanisms, while also implementing network-level controls and regular security assessments to verify that sandbox boundaries remain intact.
The security implications of this vulnerability highlight the importance of proper sandbox implementation in application servers and the need for comprehensive security testing in multi-tenant environments. Organizations should review their shared hosting configurations and ensure that additional security layers are in place to protect against such privilege escalation attacks. Regular security audits and penetration testing of application server configurations can help identify similar weaknesses in access control enforcement that may not be immediately apparent in standard vulnerability scans.