CVE-2023-22262 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 03/22/2023
Experience Manager versions 6.5.15.0 (and earlier) are affected by a URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') vulnerability. A low-privilege authenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to redirect users to malicious websites. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2025
The CVE-2023-22262 vulnerability represents a critical open redirect flaw affecting Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.15.0 and earlier. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-601 classification for URL Redirection to Untrusted Site, which is a well-documented security weakness that enables attackers to manipulate web application redirects. The flaw specifically resides in the application's handling of user-provided URLs within redirect mechanisms, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to craft deceptive navigation paths that appear legitimate to unsuspecting users. The vulnerability's impact is particularly concerning given that it requires only low-privilege authenticated access, meaning that even users with minimal permissions can exploit this weakness. The attack vector leverages user interaction as a prerequisite, which aligns with common phishing and social engineering attack patterns that rely on user engagement to propagate malicious activities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization within Experience Manager's redirect functionality. When users navigate through the application and encounter certain redirect operations, the system fails to properly validate or sanitize the destination URLs provided by the application or user input. This allows an authenticated attacker to supply malicious URLs that will be processed and executed as legitimate redirects within the application context. The flaw essentially permits attackers to create a deceptive user experience where legitimate-looking links redirect to malicious domains, potentially enabling credential theft, malware distribution, or other malicious activities. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability directly maps to attack techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1566 category for Phishing and T1190 for Exploit Public-Facing Application, highlighting how this weakness can serve as a foundational entry point for more sophisticated attacks.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-22262 extends beyond simple redirection capabilities, as it provides attackers with a mechanism to establish trust relationships with victims through legitimate application interfaces. This vulnerability can be particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Experience Manager serves as a critical component of digital marketing and content management infrastructure. Attackers can leverage this flaw to create convincing phishing campaigns that appear to originate from trusted internal applications, making them significantly more effective than traditional phishing attempts. The low privilege requirement means that even casual users with basic access rights can potentially compromise the security posture of the entire system. Organizations utilizing affected versions of Experience Manager face substantial risk of data exfiltration, reputation damage, and potential lateral movement within their networks. The vulnerability's exploitation requires user interaction, which means that security awareness training becomes crucial in defending against such attacks, as the effectiveness of this exploit relies heavily on social engineering elements to gain user trust and engagement.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigation strategies including patching to the latest available versions of Experience Manager that address this vulnerability, as well as implementing additional network-level controls such as URL filtering and web application firewalls. Security teams should also conduct thorough assessments of their existing redirect mechanisms to identify similar vulnerabilities throughout their application portfolio. The remediation process should include comprehensive input validation controls, proper URL sanitization, and the implementation of allow-list approaches for redirect destinations. Additionally, organizations should enhance their monitoring capabilities to detect unusual redirect patterns and user behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify potential variants of this vulnerability in other components of the application stack, ensuring that the mitigation efforts are comprehensive and address the root cause of the issue.