CVE-2024-26035 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 digital experience platform that enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver personalized content across multiple channels. The platform serves as a central hub for digital marketing activities and content management, making it a critical component in enterprise digital infrastructure. This stored cross-site scripting vulnerability affects the core functionality of form processing within the AEM interface, specifically targeting the handling of user input in form fields. The vulnerability stems from insufficient sanitization of user-supplied data before rendering it within web pages, creating a persistent security gap that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute in the context of authenticated users.
The technical flaw manifests in the improper validation and encoding of input data submitted through AEM forms, particularly affecting version 6.5.19 and earlier releases. When users submit data through vulnerable form fields, the system fails to adequately sanitize the input, allowing malicious JavaScript code to be stored in the backend database or content repository. This stored data is then served back to users when they access pages containing the vulnerable form fields, resulting in the execution of malicious scripts within their browser context. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the HTML rendering pipeline, where user input is processed without proper context-aware encoding mechanisms. This flaw aligns with CWE-79 which describes improper neutralization of input during web page generation, making it particularly dangerous as it can persist across multiple user sessions and page views.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities within the context of authenticated users. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, access sensitive content, or redirect victims to malicious websites. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payload remains persistent, allowing attackers to maintain access and execute scripts across multiple user interactions without requiring repeated exploitation attempts. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations using AEM for content management, digital marketing, or customer data collection, as these scenarios often involve user-generated content through form submissions. The impact is amplified when considering that AEM is frequently used in enterprise environments where users may have elevated privileges or access to sensitive corporate data.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.20 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. Security teams should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms across all form processing components, ensuring that user-supplied data is properly sanitized before storage and rendering. Network-based mitigations such as web application firewalls can provide additional protection layers, though they should not be considered a substitute for proper code-level fixes. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in custom AEM implementations or third-party extensions. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices in content management systems, as user input handling represents one of the most common attack vectors in web applications. Organizations should also consider implementing content security policies and monitoring for anomalous form submission patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability serves as a reminder of the necessity for robust input validation across all application layers, particularly in systems handling user-generated content, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering through malicious content injection.