CVE-2024-26034 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 03/18/2024
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.19 and earlier are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by an 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 • 04/16/2025
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive content management platform widely adopted by enterprises for digital experience management and web content publishing. The platform serves as a central hub for creating, managing, and delivering digital content across multiple channels while providing robust authoring capabilities for marketers and content creators. This system handles sensitive business data and user interactions through various form-based interfaces that collect and process information from website visitors. The vulnerability affects the core rendering and processing mechanisms within the AEM form handling components, particularly in how the system validates and sanitizes user input submitted through web forms. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious script payloads that bypass the platform's input validation controls, allowing them to inject persistent XSS payloads directly into form fields that are later rendered to other users.
The technical flaw manifests in the insufficient sanitization of user-supplied data within AEM's form processing pipeline. When users submit data through web forms, the system fails to properly validate and escape special characters in the input fields before storing and rendering the content. This vulnerability specifically impacts the form field rendering engine which processes and displays user-submitted data without adequate protection against script injection. The stored nature of this vulnerability means that malicious payloads persist in the system's database and are executed whenever any user views the affected page containing the compromised form field. The flaw exists at the application layer where the platform's content rendering components do not implement proper output encoding or input validation mechanisms to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it enables attackers to perform a range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration. When victims browse to pages containing the stored malicious scripts, their browsers execute the injected JavaScript code which can access their session cookies, capture keystrokes, redirect them to malicious sites, or extract sensitive information from the victim's browser. This vulnerability poses particular risk to organizations using AEM for customer-facing applications, employee portals, or any system where user input is collected and displayed. The persistent nature of stored XSS allows attackers to maintain access to compromised systems over extended periods, potentially enabling long-term reconnaissance and data harvesting activities. Organizations with extensive AEM deployments may face widespread compromise across multiple websites and applications that utilize the vulnerable form handling components.
Organizations should immediately apply the vendor-provided security patches and updates released for Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.19 and earlier to remediate this vulnerability. The patch addresses the input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the form processing components to properly sanitize user-supplied data before storage and rendering. Security teams should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of affected AEM installations within their environment and prioritize remediation efforts. Implementing additional security controls such as web application firewalls, content security policies, and regular input validation testing can provide defense-in-depth measures. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications, and follows ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter usage in web applications. Organizations should also consider implementing automated monitoring for suspicious script injection patterns and establish incident response procedures to address potential exploitation attempts. Regular security training for developers and administrators on secure coding practices and input validation techniques remains essential for preventing similar vulnerabilities in the future.