CVE-2023-48571 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 • 09/20/2025
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive digital experience platform that serves as a content management system for enterprise organizations. The platform provides robust features for creating, managing, and delivering digital content across multiple channels while supporting complex web applications through its form handling capabilities. This vulnerability specifically targets the form processing functionality within AEM's user interface components, where user inputs are not properly sanitized before being rendered back to browsers. The stored XSS vulnerability exists in the form field processing logic that fails to adequately validate and escape user-supplied data before persisting it to the database and subsequently displaying it in web pages. Attackers with low-privileged access can exploit this weakness by submitting malicious JavaScript payloads through form fields that are later rendered in other users' browsers when they view the affected content. The vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through spearphishing attachments or links. The attack vector leverages the platform's content rendering capabilities where form data is displayed without proper input sanitization, creating an environment where malicious scripts can execute in the context of authenticated users. This poses significant risks to organizations as it allows attackers to hijack user sessions, steal sensitive information, or redirect victims to malicious websites. The impact extends beyond simple script execution as it can enable further exploitation through session hijacking or privilege escalation attempts. Organizations utilizing AEM versions 6.5.18 or earlier face potential compromise of their digital content management systems, with attackers able to manipulate the user interface and potentially gain deeper access to the underlying infrastructure. The vulnerability's persistence stems from the stored nature of the flaw, meaning that once malicious content is injected, it remains active until manually removed by administrators. This characteristic makes the attack particularly dangerous as it can affect multiple users over extended periods without requiring repeated exploitation attempts. The security implications include potential data breaches, unauthorized access to sensitive content, and compromise of user authentication tokens. Organizations should immediately implement security patches from Adobe, conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their AEM implementations, and consider implementing additional input validation measures to prevent similar issues in custom-developed components. The flaw demonstrates the critical importance of proper input sanitization in web applications and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of user-facing interfaces.