CVE-2023-48498 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 presents a critical reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability that stems from inadequate input validation within its web application framework. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 6.5.18, where the application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied parameters before incorporating them into dynamically generated web responses. The flaw occurs when the system processes request parameters without sufficient encoding or filtering mechanisms, allowing malicious actors to inject script code that executes in the victim's browser context. The vulnerability manifests when a user navigates to a specially crafted URL that contains malicious script payloads within its query parameters or path segments.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows standard XSS attack patterns where attackers craft malicious URLs containing script code that gets reflected back to the victim's browser through the vulnerable application's response. This reflected nature means the malicious script is not stored on the server but rather injected into the application's response based on user input, making it particularly dangerous for social engineering attacks. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that even users with minimal access rights can potentially compromise the security of higher-privileged users who might inadvertently click on malicious links. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a weakness where applications fail to properly validate or escape user-controllable data before incorporating it into web pages.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities within the victim's browser session. Attackers could potentially steal session cookies, hijack user sessions, redirect victims to malicious sites, or even perform actions on behalf of the authenticated user. The reflected nature of the vulnerability makes it particularly effective for phishing campaigns where attackers send crafted emails or messages containing malicious URLs that appear legitimate to unsuspecting users. This vulnerability poses significant risk to organizations using Adobe Experience Manager for content management, as compromised user sessions could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive content, modification of web pages, or data exfiltration. The attack surface is broad since many AEM applications use dynamic URL structures that may be vulnerable to parameter injection attacks.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied parameters, particularly those used in URL construction and response generation. The recommended approach involves implementing comprehensive parameter sanitization at the application level, ensuring that all user input is properly escaped before inclusion in web responses. Security headers such as Content Security Policy should be configured to limit script execution and prevent unauthorized code injection. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify additional vectors that may exploit similar weaknesses. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of keeping Adobe Experience Manager systems updated to the latest versions where patches have been implemented to address reflected XSS vulnerabilities. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1566 which covers social engineering techniques using malicious links, and T1059 which encompasses execution through script interpreters, making it a significant threat vector for both initial access and post-exploitation activities.