NOW LIVE! Adobe ColdFusion 2023 and 2021 October 2024 updates

[Saurav_Ghosh]

We are pleased to announce that we have released general updates to ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 11 and ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 17. 

The updates include bug fixes and enhancements in Administrator, Language, CFSetup, Database, and other areas. They also contain library upgrades, such as netty, ehcache, etc.

After applying the update, we recommend clearing the Felix cache as a workaround for installing the HTMLToPDF package and verifying the Oracle data source.

The updates also contain enhancements to whitespace management and client variable support in CFPM.

Where do I download the updates from

Download the updates from the following locations:

• ColdFusion (2023 release) Updates
• ColdFusion (2021 release) Updates

For more information, view the following tech notes:

• ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 11
• ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 17

Known issues in the update

• The PDF Services page in ColdFusion Administrator does not load even with the HTMLToPDF package installed. As a workaround, follow the steps:
  • Uninstall the HTMLToPDF package.
  • Stop ColdFusion.
  • Clear the Felix cache (<cf_home>/cfusion/bin/felix-cache).
  • Restart ColdFusion.
  • Install the HTMLToPDF package.
• After installing the latest update, the Oracle DataSource verification fails. To work around this, clear the Felix cache and restart ColdFusion.
• An exception occurs when indexing Open Document Format files, such as those with a .odt extension.

Are the Docker images available

The images are available on the Docker hub and ECR.

Is CFFiddle updated with the changes

CFFiddle is updated with the changes.

Please update your ColdFusion versions and provide your valuable feedback.

[xfreeman89x]

The update break the server. I tried to install it also manually but nothing to do.
This is what I see from the logs: 

javax.servlet.ServletException: ROOT CAUSE: 
coldfusion.server.ServiceFactory$ServiceNotAvailableException: The ClientScope service is not available.
    at coldfusion.server.ServiceFactory.getClientScopeService(ServiceFactory.java:702)
    at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:32)
    at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:60)
    at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
    at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)

Do I miss something?

[Charlie Arehart]

While you await a reply from Adobe, I'll report that I did not get that error in applying the update. You could help us help you by answering a few questions:

1. Was this cf2023 or 2021?
2. What update were you on before this?
3. What OS?
4. Are you saying cf now won't start?
5. Is there perhaps more info in the cf logs, before that one, during startup?
6. Have you tried uninstalling the update?

Even if you "can't access the cf admin to do that", note that you can do it from the command line--like the manual install you attempted.  See the cfusion/hf-updates folder whose name includes the number of the update you did. That has an uninstall folder in it, and that has an uninstall .bat or .sh to run.

Or again, perhaps Adobe or someone else may chime in with news that they've seen this before and/or have different info to suggest.

[megha1997]

Hi @xfreeman89x  Could you please share your hotfix installation log file?

[xfreeman89x]

Hi Charlie,

here the answers to your questions point by point:
1) cf2023
2) update 10 before this
3) Windows Server 2022
4) CF start normally but every page and also the administrator has 500 error
5) I have this error in server.log "Error","Thread-18","10/16/24","13:00:18","","The ClientScope service is not available. This exception is usually caused by service startup failure. Check your server configuration." and this error in application.log: "Error","http-nio-8501-exec-3","10/16/24","13:00:05","","Could not initialize class coldfusion.runtime.AppHelper The specific sequence of files included or processed is: C:\ColdFusion2023\cfusion\wwwroot\CFIDE\administrator\index.cfm, line: 24"
6) uninstalling the update makes ColdFusion server working again

Yes, I had to uninstall the update by command line.

[Charlie Arehart]

Thanks. First, glad you were able to recover with the uninstall. Second, as for point 5, that's the same info you'd offered before. I asked if there was OTHER info--before that.

But now I'd turn our attention to what info you see also in the update log. That, too, is in the hf-updates folder for the update you applied. I suspect you had errors DURING the install of the update. There can be many causes of that. I discuss it more in a blog post of some years ago, still relevant (How to solve common problems with applying ColdFusion updates), but I don't know if it will be necessary for you to read it. 

One key point I make there, and another question for you: when you applied the update manually, did you use "run as admin" when opening the command line?

Finally, there's one more question I should have asked: what Java version does your cf admin now show that you have running under cf? (Don't judge from the command line. That could be different from what cf uses. See the "settings summary" page in the admin, which is the last link at the top of the "server settings" section. Then see about 10 lines down.) 

Since you're on cf2023, it should be some Java 17. But (since applying the update 10 you're on) did you perhaps change the jvm cf uses to use Java 17.0.8 or later? If so, you may be hitting an issue I discuss in a blog post from a year ago (this week, in fact)

https://www.carehart.org/blog/2023/10/10/solving_problems_applying_latest_cf_updates

The tldr at the top of the post maybe all you need. In fact Adobe mentions it in the technotes for yesterday's update: you may need to add another jvm arg to the manual command line update you did. You'd want to add:

-Djdk.util.zip.disableZip64ExtraFieldValidation=true

on the "java -jar " command, with that placed BEFORE the -jar arg). 

I elaborate in the post on HOW to do it if the technote's suggestion isn't enough. I also mention this in my own blog post from last night about yesterday's update, FWIW:

https://www.carehart.org/blog/2024/10/16/ColdFusion_updates_released_Oct_15_2024

Let us know if any of this gets you going.

I'll add that as I also mention in those posts, I can certainly help folks directly, via remote screenshare, often solving such things quite quickly (consider how readily all this info on share comes to mind for me). Of course, different people have different problems. I try in these online resources to guide you based on what info you offer. I also write to benefit ANYONE who may be following along. In a session together, we'd obviously be targeted to your specific needs and what you know/don't know. More at carehart.org/consulting.

But I hope I've given you (and others here) enough to hopefully get you going on your own.