CVE-2023-48447 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 12/15/2023
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 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 • 01/04/2024
Adobe Experience Manager serves as a comprehensive content management platform that enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver digital experiences across multiple channels. The platform's architecture includes various web interfaces and administrative components that handle user input through URL parameters and form fields. This particular vulnerability exists within the web application's input validation mechanisms, specifically affecting the way the system processes and renders user-supplied data in HTTP response headers and HTML content.
The reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability stems from inadequate sanitization of input parameters within the AEM web application's response handling. When a user visits a maliciously crafted URL containing script tags in query parameters, the application fails to properly escape or filter these inputs before rendering them in the browser context. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the victim's browser session, leveraging the trusted relationship between the user and the AEM application. The vulnerability affects versions 6.5.18 and earlier, indicating a long-standing flaw in the platform's security architecture that has persisted across multiple releases.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it provides attackers with the capability to perform session hijacking, steal user credentials, and manipulate application functionality. An attacker could craft URLs that redirect victims to malicious content, steal cookies containing session tokens, or even inject additional malicious payloads that could compromise the entire user session. The low privilege requirement means that even users with minimal access rights could potentially exploit this vulnerability, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple user roles exist. The reflected nature of the attack means that the malicious payload is not stored on the server but rather delivered through crafted URLs, making detection and prevention more challenging.
Security practitioners should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding measures to address this vulnerability, ensuring that all user-supplied data is properly sanitized before being rendered in web responses. Organizations must update their AEM installations to versions 6.5.19 or later, where Adobe has released patches addressing this specific XSS flaw. Network-based mitigations such as web application firewalls can provide additional protection layers, though they should not replace proper application-level fixes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1531 which covers "Modify Existing Service" and T1059.007 which covers "Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript'. Regular security testing including dynamic application security testing and manual penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar input validation weaknesses in other components of the AEM platform.