CVE-2023-48527 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 12/15/2023
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 and earlier are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious scripts into vulnerable form fields. Malicious JavaScript may be executed in a victim’s browser when they browse to the page containing the vulnerable field.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/05/2024
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive content management platform widely deployed across enterprise environments for digital experience management. The platform serves as a central hub for creating, managing, and delivering digital content across multiple channels. This particular vulnerability affects versions 6.5.18 and earlier, indicating a long-standing issue within the product lifecycle that has persisted across multiple releases. The vulnerability resides in the form handling mechanisms of the platform, specifically within how user input is processed and rendered within web forms. The stored XSS vulnerability manifests when malicious scripts are injected into form fields and subsequently executed when other users view the affected pages.
The technical flaw exploits the insufficient sanitization of user input within form fields, allowing attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that gets stored server-side and later executed in victim browsers. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in software applications. The attack vector requires a low-privileged attacker, suggesting that the vulnerability may be accessible through user accounts with basic permissions rather than requiring administrative access. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by users who do not have elevated privileges within the system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and redirection to malicious websites. When victims browse to pages containing the vulnerable form fields, their browsers execute the injected JavaScript code, potentially compromising their sessions and exposing sensitive data. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious code persists until manually removed, allowing attackers to maintain access to victim systems over extended periods. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1531 which covers "Use of Web Shell" and T1059.007 which addresses "Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript", indicating the potential for broader exploitation capabilities.
Organizations utilizing Adobe Experience Manager should prioritize immediate remediation through patch updates to versions 6.5.19 or later, which contain the necessary fixes for this vulnerability. Additionally, implementing input validation and output encoding mechanisms can provide defense-in-depth measures to prevent similar issues. Security teams should conduct comprehensive assessments of all form fields within the platform to identify potential injection points and establish monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized script injections. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input sanitization and output encoding practices in web applications, particularly in content management systems where user-generated content is prevalent. Regular security testing and vulnerability assessments should be integrated into the development lifecycle to identify and remediate such issues before they can be exploited by malicious actors.