CVE-2016-0955 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager 5.6.1, 6.0.0, and 6.1.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/22/2018
Adobe Experience Manager suffers from a cross-site scripting vulnerability that affects versions 5.6.1, 6.0.0, and 6.1.0, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this content management platform. This vulnerability resides in the application's failure to properly sanitize user input before rendering it in web pages, allowing malicious actors to execute arbitrary scripts within the context of a victim's browser session. The unspecified attack vectors suggest that multiple input points within the AEM interface may be susceptible to this injection attack, potentially including form fields, URL parameters, or content management inputs. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in software applications, making it a well-documented and critical security weakness in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, or redirect victims to malicious websites. Attackers could exploit this weakness to establish persistent access to AEM environments, potentially compromising entire content management systems and the sensitive data they contain. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors do not require physical access to the system, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with web-accessible AEM instances. This vulnerability directly maps to tactics described in the ATT&CK framework under T1566, which covers credential access through phishing and social engineering techniques that can leverage XSS vulnerabilities to establish initial access.
Organizations utilizing affected Adobe Experience Manager versions should prioritize immediate remediation through official patches provided by Adobe, as these updates typically address the root cause of the XSS vulnerability by implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Additionally, implementing comprehensive web application firewalls and content security policies can provide additional layers of protection against exploitation attempts. Security teams should conduct thorough assessments of their AEM environments to identify all potential entry points that may be vulnerable to similar injection attacks, ensuring that all user inputs are properly sanitized before processing. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and implementing robust security controls to prevent exploitation of known weaknesses in enterprise content management platforms.