CVE-2024-36178 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 6.5.20 and earlier versions contain a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a significant threat to web application security. This vulnerability resides within the form handling mechanisms of the platform, where user input is not properly sanitized before being stored and subsequently rendered back to users. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious javascript code into form fields that persist in the application's database, making it a stored XSS vulnerability rather than a reflected one. When legitimate users interact with these compromised forms or view pages containing the malicious content, their browsers execute the injected scripts in the context of their authenticated sessions. This presents a severe risk as attackers can potentially steal session cookies, perform actions on behalf of users, or redirect them to malicious sites. The vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which covers the use of malicious scripts to gain unauthorized access to systems. The impact extends beyond simple data theft as attackers can leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access through session hijacking or to perform privilege escalation attacks if the affected users possess administrative capabilities within the AEM environment.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal prerequisites since it involves standard web application input handling mechanisms. Attackers need only submit malicious payloads through form fields that are subsequently stored and rendered without proper sanitization. The vulnerability affects the core content management functionality of Adobe Experience Manager, which is widely deployed across enterprise environments for managing digital experiences and web content. This makes the attack surface particularly broad as organizations using AEM for their websites, digital marketing platforms, and content delivery systems all become potential targets. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payload remains active until manually removed from the database, creating a persistent threat vector that can affect multiple users over extended periods. Security teams face particular challenges in detecting this vulnerability since the malicious code is embedded within legitimate user-generated content and may not trigger standard security monitoring systems. The risk is compounded by the fact that AEM is often used in high-value enterprise environments where the compromise of user sessions can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive corporate data, intellectual property, or customer information.
Organizations utilizing affected Adobe Experience Manager versions must implement immediate remediation strategies to protect their digital infrastructure from exploitation. The primary mitigation involves updating to Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 or later versions where the XSS vulnerability has been patched. Security administrators should also implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms within their applications to prevent similar vulnerabilities from manifesting in custom code or third-party integrations. Regular security scanning and penetration testing of AEM implementations can help identify potential injection points that may not be covered by the vendor patch. Network segmentation and web application firewalls can provide additional layers of protection by monitoring for suspicious script patterns in HTTP traffic. Organizations should also conduct thorough user access reviews to identify and restrict administrative privileges where possible, reducing the potential impact of successful XSS attacks. Incident response procedures must be updated to include detection and remediation protocols for stored XSS vulnerabilities, including database sanitization processes and user session invalidation measures. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that protect against both known and emerging threats in enterprise web applications.