CVE-2024-36211 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 06/13/2024
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier are affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. If a low-privileged attacker is able to convince a victim to visit a URL referencing a vulnerable page, malicious JavaScript content may be executed within the context of the victim's browser.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/23/2025
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier contain a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a significant security risk for organizations relying on this content management platform. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which occurs when web applications include untrusted data in web pages without proper validation or encoding. The flaw specifically affects the handling of user input parameters that are reflected back to the browser without adequate sanitization, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to inject and execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the victim's browser context.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the application's failure to properly escape or filter user-supplied input that gets reflected back to the browser in HTTP responses. When a user visits a maliciously crafted URL containing crafted script payloads, the application processes these inputs and returns them directly to the victim's browser without sufficient sanitization. This allows attackers to execute malicious scripts in the victim's browser session, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim. The reflected nature of this vulnerability means that the malicious payload is not stored on the server but rather injected through the URL parameters, making it particularly difficult to detect and prevent through traditional server-side defenses.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to establish persistent access to user sessions within the Adobe Experience Manager environment. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform actions such as modifying content, accessing restricted administrative functions, or stealing sensitive session tokens that could be used to escalate privileges within the system. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that even users with minimal access rights could potentially compromise the entire platform, especially when combined with other vulnerabilities or social engineering techniques. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations using older versions of AEM where patching may not have been implemented due to compatibility concerns or deployment schedules, creating extended exposure windows for potential attacks.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigation strategies including applying the latest security patches provided by Adobe, implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security controls and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that include regular security assessments and monitoring for suspicious activities. Additionally, organizations should conduct security awareness training for administrators to recognize potential social engineering attempts that could leverage this vulnerability, as well as establish robust incident response procedures to quickly address any exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1059.007 technique for script injection, emphasizing the need for proper input validation and the implementation of Content Security Policy headers to prevent unauthorized script execution in web applications.