CVE-2022-35664 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 09/16/2022
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.13.0 (and earlier) is affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. If an attacker is able to convince a victim to visit a URL referencing a vulnerable page, malicious JavaScript content may be executed within the context of the victim's browser. Exploitation of this issue requires low-privilege access to AEM.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/19/2025
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.13.0 and earlier contain a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a significant security risk for organizations relying on this content management platform. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, specifically classified as reflected XSS where malicious input is immediately returned to the user without proper sanitization. The flaw occurs when the application fails to adequately validate or escape user-supplied input that is subsequently reflected back in HTTP responses to the victim's browser. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires only low-privilege access to exploit, meaning that attackers with minimal authentication credentials can potentially compromise user sessions and execute malicious code within the context of the victim's browser environment.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves crafting malicious URLs that contain specially crafted payloads designed to exploit the reflected XSS flaw in AEM's web application components. When a victim clicks on such a malicious link and their browser requests the vulnerable page, the malicious JavaScript code becomes embedded in the HTTP response and executes within the victim's browser context. This allows attackers to perform actions such as stealing session cookies, redirecting users to malicious sites, defacing web pages, or performing unauthorized operations on behalf of the victim. The reflected nature of this vulnerability means that the malicious input is not stored on the server but is instead reflected back immediately, making it particularly dangerous for web applications that process user input in HTTP request parameters.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability can lead to severe consequences for organizations using Adobe Experience Manager as their primary content management system. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that even users with basic access rights can potentially compromise the security posture of the entire system. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges, access sensitive content, or perform unauthorized modifications to web pages and digital assets. The reflected XSS vulnerability also poses risks to user privacy and data integrity, as it can be used to capture authentication tokens, session identifiers, or other sensitive information that users might have entered into forms or URLs within the AEM environment. This threat is particularly relevant in enterprise settings where AEM is used to manage critical business content and user data.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability by upgrading to Adobe Experience Manager versions that contain the necessary security patches and fixes. The recommended approach involves applying the official security updates released by Adobe to remediate the reflected XSS vulnerability. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms can help prevent similar issues in the future. Security measures such as content security policies, proper HTTP headers configuration, and regular security assessments should be enforced to reduce the attack surface. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring systems to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which involves modifying existing programs to inject malicious code, and the remediation strategies should include comprehensive security hardening practices that address the underlying causes of reflected XSS vulnerabilities in web applications.