CVE-2024-52843 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 suffers from a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that poses significant risks to web application security. This vulnerability affects versions 6.5.21 and earlier, indicating a widespread exposure across multiple iterations of the platform. The flaw resides in the handling of form fields where user input is not properly sanitized or validated before being stored and subsequently rendered back to users. When an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they can inject malicious JavaScript code into form fields that will execute in the browser of any user who views the page containing the compromised data.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. This classification indicates that the application fails to properly validate or escape user-supplied data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. The stored aspect of this vulnerability means that the malicious payload persists in the application's database or storage system, making it particularly dangerous as it can affect multiple users over extended periods. Unlike reflected XSS attacks that require specific user interaction to trigger, stored XSS can compromise users simply by viewing compromised content, making it a more insidious threat vector.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond immediate script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and redirection to phishing sites. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal cookies, access sensitive user information, or even escalate privileges within the application. The vulnerability's presence in Adobe Experience Manager, a platform commonly used for enterprise web content management, increases the potential damage as it may affect organizations with significant digital presences and sensitive data repositories. Users who browse to pages containing the stored malicious content are at risk of having their browser sessions compromised, potentially leading to unauthorized access to corporate systems or personal accounts.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to Adobe Experience Manager versions that address this vulnerability, implementing robust input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads. The remediation strategy should also include regular security assessments of form handling mechanisms and comprehensive user input sanitization procedures. Additionally, implementing content security policies and disabling unnecessary JavaScript execution in form fields can significantly reduce the attack surface. Security teams should monitor for indicators of compromise related to this vulnerability and conduct thorough penetration testing to identify any additional stored XSS vulnerabilities within their Adobe Experience Manager implementations. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output encoding practices, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through web application attacks and T1071.001 for application layer protocol usage in command and control communications.