CVE-2024-36152 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 06/13/2024
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 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 • 03/23/2025
Adobe Experience Manager presents a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in versions 6.5.20 and earlier, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts into form fields that persist in the application's database. This flaw resides in the handling of user input within web forms and content management interfaces where proper sanitization and output encoding mechanisms fail to adequately validate or escape malicious payloads. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation processes that permit special characters and script tags to be stored without appropriate sanitization, creating a persistent threat vector that remains active until manually removed from the system.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker submits malicious JavaScript code through form fields that are subsequently displayed to other users without proper HTML encoding or content sanitization. When victims navigate to pages containing these stored malicious inputs, their browsers execute the injected scripts within the context of their authenticated sessions, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. This stored XSS variant differs from reflected XSS because the malicious payload is permanently stored on the server and executed whenever the affected page is accessed, making it particularly dangerous for content management systems where multiple users interact with shared data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to escalate privileges, access sensitive user data, or manipulate content within the AEM environment. Attackers may leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access through session manipulation or to perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, potentially compromising the entire content management infrastructure. The vulnerability affects both administrators and regular users who interact with form-based interfaces, creating a broad attack surface that could be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive content management systems.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability include immediate patching of Adobe Experience Manager to versions 6.5.21 or later, which contain proper input validation and output encoding fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive input sanitization at multiple layers including application code, database storage, and output rendering processes. Network segmentation and web application firewalls can provide additional protection by monitoring for suspicious script patterns, while regular security audits of form inputs and user-generated content should be conducted. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which categorizes cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a technique commonly associated with attack vectors in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the 'Command and Control' and 'Credential Access' domains, particularly when considering the potential for session hijacking and privilege escalation.