CVE-2024-36177 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 represents a comprehensive content management platform widely adopted by enterprises for digital experience management and web publishing operations. The platform serves as a central hub for creating, managing, and delivering digital content across multiple channels and touchpoints. Given its critical role in enterprise digital infrastructure, vulnerabilities within AEM can have significant operational and security implications for organizations relying on its services. The stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in versions 6.5.20 and earlier fundamentally compromises the platform's ability to properly sanitize user input submitted through form fields, creating persistent security risks for end users and administrators who interact with the system.
The technical flaw manifests in the platform's insufficient validation and sanitization of data submitted through form fields within the AEM interface. When users input data into form fields, the system fails to adequately filter or escape potentially malicious script content, allowing attackers to store malicious JavaScript code within the application's database or content repository. This stored payload becomes persistent and executes whenever other users view the affected content, creating a classic stored XSS attack vector. The vulnerability specifically affects form fields within the AEM user interface, where administrators and content creators can input data that gets rendered back to other users without proper security context handling. This flaw directly maps to CWE-79, which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a common vulnerability where untrusted data is executed as code in the victim's browser, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through spearphishing attachments or links, though in this case the attack vector is through form field injection rather than traditional phishing.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, redirection to malicious sites, and data exfiltration. An attacker with access to AEM form fields could potentially steal administrator credentials, modify content, or establish persistent access to the platform. The vulnerability affects both content creators and system administrators who interact with the platform, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where multiple users have varying levels of access and permissions. Organizations using AEM for sensitive content management, digital marketing campaigns, or customer-facing applications face heightened risk, as compromised form fields could lead to widespread data breaches or unauthorized modifications to critical digital assets. The persistent nature of stored XSS means that once injected, malicious scripts remain active until manually removed or the affected fields are updated, creating ongoing security exposure for organizations.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.21 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. Additional defensive measures include implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding for all user-submitted content, deploying web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads, and conducting thorough security assessments of all form fields within the AEM environment. Administrators should also consider implementing content security policies to limit script execution capabilities within the platform, and regularly audit form fields and content submissions for potential malicious code. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect against persistent threats in enterprise content management systems. Organizations should also consider implementing user education and awareness programs to help identify potential phishing attempts that might lead to exploitation of similar vulnerabilities, while ensuring that all security updates are tested and deployed systematically across the enterprise environment.