CVE-2023-48579 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 cornerstone for enterprise content management and digital asset handling. The platform's widespread adoption across organizations makes it a prime target for attackers seeking to exploit vulnerabilities that could compromise large user bases. This particular vulnerability resides within the form handling mechanisms of AEM versions 6.5.18 and earlier, where the system fails to properly sanitize user input before rendering it in web pages. The stored XSS flaw occurs when malicious scripts are submitted through form fields and subsequently stored within the application's database or processing systems. When other users subsequently view pages containing these compromised form fields, the injected JavaScript executes within their browser context, creating a persistent threat vector that can affect multiple victims over time. This vulnerability type directly maps to CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a weakness that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web applications. The flaw particularly impacts AEM's form processing capabilities where user-submitted data is not adequately filtered or escaped before being rendered back to users. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables attackers to execute arbitrary code in victims' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and other malicious activities. The low privilege requirement means that even users with minimal access rights can exploit this vulnerability, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that rely on role-based access controls. The stored nature of this XSS vulnerability means that the malicious payload persists even after the initial injection, allowing attackers to maintain access to compromised systems over extended periods. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which describes the use of malicious scripts to establish persistence within web applications. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond immediate script execution as it can serve as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks including privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data manipulation within the AEM environment. Organizations utilizing AEM 6.5.18 and earlier versions face significant risk as this vulnerability can be exploited without requiring advanced technical skills or elevated privileges. The attack surface includes any form field within the AEM application that processes user input, making the scope of potential exploitation quite broad across different content management scenarios. The vulnerability demonstrates a critical flaw in input validation and output encoding practices within the AEM platform's form handling subsystem, highlighting the importance of proper sanitization mechanisms. Security teams should prioritize patching this vulnerability as it represents a persistent threat that can be exploited repeatedly without detection, potentially allowing attackers to establish long-term presence within affected systems. The remediation approach requires immediate application of Adobe's security patches or updates to AEM versions that address this specific XSS vulnerability, along with comprehensive input validation measures to prevent similar issues in other components. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect potential exploitation attempts and establish incident response procedures specifically tailored to handle XSS-related security events.