Adobe Security Bulletin
Security updates available for Adobe ColdFusion | APSB21-16
Bulletin ID Date Published Priority
APSB21-16 March 22, 2021 2

Summary

Adobe has released security updates for ColdFusion versions 2021, 2016 and 2018. These updates resolve a  vulnerability rated moderate that could lead to arbitrary code execution.  

Affected Versions

Product Update number Platform
ColdFusion 2016
Update 16 and earlier version
All
ColdFusion 2018
Update 10 and earlier versions    
All
ColdFusion 2021
Version 2021.0.0.323925 All

Solution

Adobe categorizes these updates with the following priority rating and recommends users update their installations to the newest versions:

Product Updated Version Platform Priority rating Availability
ColdFusion 2016
Update 17
All 2 Tech note
ColdFusion 2018 Update 11 All 2 Tech note    
ColdFusion 2021
Update 1
All 2 Tech note

Note:

Adobe recommends updating your ColdFusion JDK/JRE to the latest version of the LTS releases for 1.8 and JDK 11. Applying the ColdFusion update without a corresponding JDK update will NOT secure the server.  See the relevant Tech Notes for more details. 

Adobe  also recommends customers apply the security configuration settings as outlined on the ColdFusion Security page as well as review the respective Lockdown guides.    

Vulnerability Details

Vulnerability Category Vulnerability Impact Severity CVE Numbers
Cross-site Scripting
Arbitrary Code Execution        
Moderate

CVE-2021-21087

Acknowledgements

Adobe would like to thank Josh Lane for reporting the relevant issues and for working with Adobe to help protect our customers. 

ColdFusion JDK Requirement

COLDFUSION 2021 (version 2021.0.0.323925) and above

For Application Servers   

On JEE installations, set the following JVM flag, "-Djdk.serialFilter= !org.mozilla.**;!com.sun.syndication.**;!org.apache.commons.beanutils.**", in the respective startup file depending on the type of Application Server being used.   

For example:   

Apache Tomcat Application Server: edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘Catalina.bat/sh’ file   

WebLogic Application Server:  edit JAVA_OPTIONS in the ‘startWeblogic.cmd’ file   

WildFly/EAP Application Server:  edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘standalone.conf’ file   

Set the JVM flags on a JEE installation of ColdFusion, not on a standalone installation.   

 

COLDFUSION 2018 HF1 and above  

For Application Servers   

On JEE installations, set the following JVM flag, "-Djdk.serialFilter= !org.mozilla.**;!com.sun.syndication.**;!org.apache.commons.beanutils.**", in the respective startup file depending on the type of Application Server being used.   

For example:   

Apache Tomcat Application Server: edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘Catalina.bat/sh’ file   

WebLogic Application Server:  edit JAVA_OPTIONS in the ‘startWeblogic.cmd’ file   

WildFly/EAP Application Server:  edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘standalone.conf’ file   

Set the JVM flags on a JEE installation of ColdFusion, not on a standalone installation.   

 

COLDFUSION 2016 HF7 and above

This security update requires ColdFusion to be on JDK 8u121 or higher. Adobe recommends that you must manually update your ColdFusion JDK/JRE to the latest version. In case you do not update the JDK/JRE, simply applying the update would NOT secure the server.

For Application Servers

Additionally, on JEE installations, set the following JVM flag, "-Djdk.serialFilter= !org.mozilla.**;!com.sun.syndication.**;!org.apache.commons.beanutils.**", in the respective startup file depending on the type of Application Server being used. 

For example:         

On Apache Tomcat Application Server, edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘Catalina.bat/sh’ file         

On WebLogic Application Server, edit JAVA_OPTIONS in the ‘startWeblogic.cmd’ file         

On a WildFly/EAP Application Server, edit JAVA_OPTS in the ‘standalone.conf’ file 

Set the JVM flags on a JEE installation of ColdFusion, not on a standalone installation

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Revisions

March 26, 2021: Updated Severity rating for CVE-2021-21087.

April 13, 2021: Updated Vulnerability category to 'Cross-site Scripting'.