# CVE-2020-10145: Privilege escalation in ColdFusion

> Unprivileged users can escalate privileges by creating files in the default ColdFusion installation directory due to insecure ACLs.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 May 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-778w-44h6-45xq

## What is CVE-2020-10145?

CVE-2020-10145 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion, published on 27 May 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Adobe ColdFusion installer fails to set a secure access-control list (ACL) on the default installation directory, such as C:\ColdFusion2021\. By default, unprivileged users can create files in this directory structure, which creates a privilege-escalation vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions), CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10145?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Adobe Coldfusion.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10145?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-10145 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-10145 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10145 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe Coldfusion

- [CVE-2026-48282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48282/): Adobe ColdFusion Path Traversal (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-38203](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38203/): Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-29300](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29300/): Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-26359](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-26359/): Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-15961](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15961/): Adobe ColdFusion Unrestricted File Upload (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10145 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10145 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion, published on 27 May 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10145 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe Coldfusion. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10145/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10145/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10145
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10145
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10145

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10145/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.