CVE-2023-22253 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 03/22/2023
Experience Manager versions 6.5.15.0 (and earlier) are affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. If a low-privileged 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.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-22253 represents a critical reflected cross-site scripting flaw within Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.15.0 and earlier. This security weakness resides in the web application's handling of user input parameters, specifically affecting pages that process external input without proper sanitization or validation mechanisms. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to adequately encode or escape user-supplied data before incorporating it into dynamic web content, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject harmful scripts that execute in the context of authenticated users' browsers.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability occurs when the application receives a request containing malicious script code in a parameter that is subsequently reflected back to the user without appropriate output encoding. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting conditions where untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or encoding. The flaw allows attackers to craft malicious URLs that, when clicked by a victim, will execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the victim's browser session, potentially compromising the user's authentication context and access privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it enables attackers to perform a range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration. Low-privileged attackers can leverage this vulnerability to escalate their access level by stealing session cookies or executing malicious scripts that can manipulate the application's behavior. The reflected nature of this XSS means that the attack requires user interaction through a specially crafted URL, making it particularly dangerous in social engineering scenarios where attackers can convince victims to click on malicious links. This vulnerability can be exploited to perform actions such as reading sensitive data, modifying user permissions, or even redirecting users to malicious sites.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-22253 should prioritize immediate patching of affected Adobe Experience Manager installations to version 6.5.16.0 or later, which contains the necessary security fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms across all user-facing application interfaces to prevent malicious data from being processed as executable content. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded and executed. Security monitoring should include detection of suspicious URL patterns and user behavior that might indicate attempted exploitation. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities within the application's attack surface, with particular attention to parameter handling and dynamic content generation processes that align with ATT&CK framework techniques for command and control operations.