CVE-2018-15969 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.4, 6.3, 6.2, 6.1, and 6.0 have a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to sensitive information disclosure.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/05/2020
Adobe Experience Manager suffers from a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that affects versions 6.4, 6.3, 6.2, 6.1, and 6.0. This vulnerability resides in the application's handling of user-supplied input within the content management system, specifically in the way it processes and stores data that is later rendered to users. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that persist within the application's database or storage mechanisms, making it a stored XSS vulnerability rather than a reflected one. When legitimate users view content containing the malicious script, the code executes in their browser context, potentially compromising their sessions and access to sensitive information.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves crafting malicious input that gets stored in the AEM system and subsequently rendered without proper sanitization or encoding. This allows attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the victim's browser, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or data exfiltration. The vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which defines cross-site scripting flaws as weaknesses that occur when an application fails to properly validate or encode user input before including it in dynamically generated web pages. The impact extends beyond simple script execution as it can lead to complete compromise of user sessions and unauthorized access to sensitive content management systems.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations relying on Adobe Experience Manager for their digital experience platforms. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that once exploited, malicious scripts can affect multiple users over time, making it particularly dangerous for content management environments where numerous users interact with the system. Attackers can leverage this weakness to gain access to unpublished content, user credentials, or other sensitive data within the AEM environment. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which involves using malicious code to access or manipulate data within applications, and T1071 which covers application layer protocols used for data exfiltration.
Organizations should immediately apply the vendor-provided security patches released for Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.4, 6.3, 6.2, 6.1, and 6.0 to remediate this vulnerability. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms can help prevent similar issues in the future. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous content submissions that might indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and content security policies to add additional layers of protection. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices in content management systems and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of web applications to prevent persistent XSS flaws that can compromise entire user bases over time.