CVE-2024-43718 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 12/11/2024
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.21 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 • 02/19/2025
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 and earlier versions contain a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a significant threat to web application security. This vulnerability exists within the form processing functionality of the platform, where user input is not properly sanitized before being stored and subsequently rendered in web pages. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious javascript code into form fields that are later displayed to other users, creating a persistent threat vector that can affect multiple victims over time.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the AEM content management system. When users submit data through forms that are processed by AEM, the platform fails to adequately sanitize the input data before storing it in the repository. This stored data is then rendered without proper context-aware encoding, allowing malicious scripts to execute in the browser context of other users who view the affected content. The vulnerability specifically affects form fields that are designed to accept user-generated content, making it particularly dangerous in environments where content management systems handle sensitive user interactions.
The operational impact of this stored XSS vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can gain access to user sessions, potentially compromising authentication tokens and sensitive information. The persistent nature of stored XSS means that once the malicious payload is injected, it continues to affect users until the content is manually removed or the vulnerability is patched. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where AEM is used for customer portals, user registration forms, and other interactive web applications.
Organizations using affected AEM versions should prioritize immediate remediation through official Adobe security patches, as the vulnerability has been assigned a high severity rating in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications, and represents a clear violation of secure coding practices for input validation and output encoding. From an attacker perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1531 which involves using malicious code to gain access to user sessions, and T1071.004 which covers application layer protocol usage. Organizations should also implement additional mitigations including web application firewalls, input sanitization at multiple layers, and regular security assessments of their AEM implementations to prevent exploitation of this and similar vulnerabilities.