CVE-2018-12809 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.4 and earlier have a Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to sensitive information disclosure.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/09/2020
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.4 and earlier contain a critical server-side request forgery vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass access controls and access internal systems. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-918 category, which specifically addresses server-side request forgery flaws that enable attackers to make requests to internal resources that should otherwise be protected from external access. The flaw exists in the way the application handles user-supplied input when processing requests to internal services, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to manipulate the application's behavior and gain unauthorized access to sensitive internal resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of URLs and resource identifiers within the Adobe Experience Manager framework. When the application processes requests that involve external resource resolution or internal service calls, it fails to properly sanitize or validate the input parameters that determine which resources can be accessed. This weakness allows an attacker to craft malicious requests that can traverse the application's security boundaries and access internal systems that are typically protected from direct external access. The vulnerability specifically affects the application's handling of HTTP requests that are intended to fetch or process resources from internal servers or services.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can enable attackers to escalate their privileges and access additional internal resources. Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to access administrative interfaces, retrieve sensitive configuration files, obtain database credentials, or even access other internal web applications that are part of the same network infrastructure. The vulnerability's severity is amplified by the fact that Adobe Experience Manager is commonly deployed in enterprise environments where it serves as a central content management platform and often has access to sensitive business data and internal systems. This creates a significant risk for organizations that rely on AEM for their digital experience management and content delivery operations.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including input validation controls, network segmentation, and access control restrictions to prevent unauthorized access to internal resources. The recommended approach involves implementing strict URL validation mechanisms that prevent the application from making requests to internal addresses or resources that should remain isolated from external access. Security measures should include configuring firewalls to restrict access to internal services, implementing proper authentication and authorization controls, and applying the latest security patches provided by Adobe. Additionally, organizations should conduct regular security assessments and monitoring to detect any suspicious activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1071.004 for application layer protocol traffic shaping and T1046 for network service scanning, which can be used to identify and prevent exploitation attempts.