CVE-2023-48612 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 12/15/2023
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 and earlier are affected by a Cross-site Scripting (DOM-based 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 • 01/06/2024
Adobe Experience Manager presents a significant security weakness through CVE-2023-48612, which manifests as a DOM-based cross-site scripting vulnerability affecting versions 6.5.18 and earlier. This flaw resides in the application's handling of user-supplied input within the browser environment, creating an avenue for attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute in the context of legitimate user sessions. The vulnerability operates at the DOM level rather than traditional server-side input validation, making it particularly insidious as it can bypass many standard security controls that focus on server-side sanitization.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires a low-privileged attacker to craft a malicious URL that, when visited by an unsuspecting victim, triggers the execution of unauthorized JavaScript code within the victim's browser. This DOM-based XSS occurs because the application fails to properly sanitize or escape user-provided parameters that are subsequently processed by JavaScript functions within the page's DOM structure. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms that should prevent malicious content from being interpreted as executable code by the browser's JavaScript engine.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform a range of malicious activities within the victim's browser session. Attackers could potentially steal session cookies, modify page content, redirect users to malicious sites, or even perform actions on behalf of the victim if the application lacks proper session management controls. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that attackers need minimal access to the system to potentially compromise user sessions, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where multiple users interact with the AEM interface. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1531 focusing on code injection methods.
Organizations utilizing affected Adobe Experience Manager versions should prioritize immediate remediation through official patches provided by Adobe, as the vulnerability represents a critical risk to user session integrity and application security. Additionally, implementing proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defensive measures against similar DOM-based XSS attacks. Security teams should conduct thorough testing to identify any other potential DOM-based vulnerabilities within the application and ensure that all user-supplied inputs are properly sanitized before being processed by JavaScript functions. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of comprehensive security testing that includes both server-side and client-side input validation mechanisms to prevent exploitation of such browser-based attack vectors.