CVE-2023-48547 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 • 01/06/2024
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 form handling capabilities allow users to collect data through web forms, making it a critical component for customer interactions and data collection processes. When vulnerabilities exist within these form processing mechanisms, they can create significant security risks for organizations relying on the platform's functionality.
The stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 and earlier represents a critical flaw in input validation and output encoding processes. Attackers with low-privileged access can exploit this weakness by injecting malicious JavaScript code into form fields that are subsequently stored within the system. The vulnerability occurs when user-supplied data containing script tags or malicious payloads is not properly sanitized or encoded before being rendered in web pages. This allows the injected scripts to execute within the context of legitimate user sessions when other users view the affected content, creating a persistent threat vector that can compromise multiple victims over time.
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, data exfiltration, and redirection to malicious websites. Low-privileged attackers who gain access through legitimate means such as content author accounts or contributor roles can leverage this vulnerability to escalate their privileges or conduct more sophisticated attacks. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payloads persist in the system until manually removed, creating ongoing security risks that can affect multiple users over extended periods. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where content is frequently updated and shared among multiple users.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.19 or later, which contains patches addressing this specific vulnerability. Additionally, administrators should review and strengthen input validation mechanisms, implement comprehensive output encoding for all user-supplied content, and conduct regular security assessments of form handling components. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a technique that adversaries might use to establish persistent access through the ATT&CK framework's initial access and execution phases. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and content security policies to provide additional layers of protection against similar scripting vulnerabilities.