ColdFusion flaw exploited for webshells in Japan
Attackers exploited Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability CVE-2023-29300 to plant webshells on at least 66 devices in Japan, risking ORB-style relay abuse.
Sourceipa.go.jp — open the original
What to check
- Applies to
- The 1 CVE named below. Whether you run an affected version is not assessed: check the versions the source lists.
- Exploitation
- CISA lists CVE-2023-29300 as exploited in the wild.
IPA (Japan's Information-technology Promotion Agency) reports that network-perimeter appliances running Adobe ColdFusion have been compromised via CVE-2023-29300, a remote code execution flaw already listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Multiple domestic organizations had webshells installed on affected ColdFusion instances, and Taiwanese security vendor TeamT5 reported on March 18, 2024 that at least 66 devices in Japan were compromised through this vulnerability.
IPA warns that such network-penetrating attacks often lead to compromised devices being repurposed as Operational Relay Boxes (ORBs) — used to relay C2 traffic or obscure attacker origin, potentially turning victim organizations into unwitting stepping stones for further attacks against third parties. The advisory draws a parallel to the Volt Typhoon campaign in the US and Europe, which similarly abused vulnerable network devices (including TP-Link routers) for ORB-style relay infrastructure targeting critical infrastructure.
IPA urges organizations running Adobe ColdFusion to urgently apply patches per Adobe's APSB23-40 advisory (which also covers two additional vulnerabilities) and to review connection logs for signs of compromise or ORB-style relay activity, even if patches have already been applied. Organizations detecting evidence of exploitation are encouraged to report to IPA's contact point.
Mentioned in this report
Source reporting: https://www.ipa.go.jp/security/security-alert/2024/alert_orb.html
Free public brief. Slack alerts on the vendors you run come with the paid plans, and a new account gets three days of them, no card.
What this brief leaves out
This page is the free tier: the write-up, the severity, the names. In the app the same report carries live profiles of the CVEs, actors, malware, and campaigns it names. The paid plans add the security research and news reporting the free tier leaves out.
It sits in a corpus of 16,433 reports from 149 sources, 661 of them written in the last seven days, and it grows through the day.
A new account starts with three days of all of it, no card, then keeps the government and CERT reporting free. Slack alerts are a paid-plan feature: name the vendors you run and Slack hears about the reports that touch them, not the rest of the week's. Nothing is charged unless you subscribe.
Create a free account What it costs