CVE-2019-16468 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5, 6.4, 6.3, 6.2, 6.1, and 6.0 have an user interface injection vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to sensitive information disclosure.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/16/2020
Adobe Experience Manager presents a user interface injection vulnerability that affects multiple versions including 6.5, 6.4, 6.3, 6.2, 6.1, and 6.0. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the application's user interface components. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious content into the user interface through improperly sanitized parameters or data inputs. When exploited, this vulnerability enables unauthorized access to sensitive information that may be displayed within the application's interface, potentially exposing confidential data to malicious actors. The vulnerability manifests when the application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data before rendering it in the user interface, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate interface elements and extract sensitive information. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting and user interface injection flaws. The attack vector typically involves crafting malicious input that gets processed and rendered within the application's interface, potentially allowing attackers to access session tokens, user credentials, or other sensitive data that might be visible in the interface. From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability compromises the integrity of the user interface and can lead to unauthorized data access, potentially resulting in data breaches and unauthorized system access. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering attacks, particularly those involving malicious content injection in user interfaces. Organizations using affected Adobe Experience Manager versions face significant risk as attackers can exploit this vulnerability to gain access to sensitive information that might otherwise remain protected within the application's secure interface elements. The exposure of sensitive information through user interface injection represents a serious security concern that undermines the trust and confidentiality mechanisms built into enterprise content management systems.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires attackers to identify specific input points within the Adobe Experience Manager interface where user-supplied data is processed and rendered. The flaw occurs in the application's data handling and rendering pipeline, where insufficient sanitization allows malicious content to be injected into interface components. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability by crafting specially formatted input that bypasses the application's validation mechanisms and gets executed within the user interface context. This type of injection can potentially lead to the disclosure of session information, system configuration details, or other sensitive data that might be rendered in the interface for legitimate users. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation practices and inadequate output encoding that are commonly associated with web application security flaws. Security researchers have identified that this issue stems from the application's failure to implement proper context-aware encoding for data that is displayed in user interface elements. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure as it can potentially enable more sophisticated attacks when combined with other vulnerabilities or when the exposed information can be leveraged for further exploitation within the application environment.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation of this vulnerability by upgrading to patched versions of Adobe Experience Manager as recommended by Adobe's security advisories. The mitigation strategy must include comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent similar injection attacks in the future. System administrators should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of affected systems. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify potential injection points within the application interface. The implementation of web application firewalls and content security policies can provide additional protection against user interface injection attacks. Security teams should also establish monitoring procedures to detect unusual patterns of interface access that might indicate exploitation attempts. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability may impact organizations' adherence to data protection regulations and security standards such as those outlined in the NIST cybersecurity framework. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining current security patches and implementing robust security controls within enterprise content management systems. Organizations should conduct security awareness training for developers to prevent similar injection vulnerabilities in custom applications built on or integrated with Adobe Experience Manager platforms. Proper security testing including dynamic application security testing and manual penetration testing should be performed to validate the effectiveness of implemented mitigations and ensure comprehensive protection against user interface injection attacks.