CVE-2025-46853 in Experience Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 06/11/2025
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.22 and earlier are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by a low privileged 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 • 06/11/2025
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive digital experience platform that serves as a content management system for enterprise organizations. The platform facilitates the creation and management of web content while providing robust features for digital marketing automation and customer experience management. Given its widespread adoption across enterprise environments, vulnerabilities within AEM pose significant security risks that can impact organizations of all sizes. The platform's architecture includes various form handling mechanisms and content management features that present potential attack vectors for malicious actors seeking to exploit weaknesses in the system's input validation and output encoding mechanisms.
The stored cross-site scripting vulnerability identified in CVE-2025-46853 stems from inadequate input sanitization within form processing components of Adobe Experience Manager. This flaw specifically affects versions 6.5.22 and earlier, indicating that the vulnerability has existed for an extended period within the product lineage. The vulnerability manifests when low-privileged attackers can inject malicious JavaScript code into form fields that are subsequently stored within the system's database or content repository. This stored data is then served to other users who access pages containing these vulnerable form fields, creating a persistent threat vector that can affect multiple victims. The technical implementation appears to lack proper output encoding mechanisms that would prevent malicious scripts from executing when rendered in web browsers, creating an environment where attacker-controlled content can be interpreted as executable code rather than plain text.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it enables attackers to perform various malicious activities within the context of victim browsers. Low-privileged attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious websites, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, or even escalate their privileges within the application environment. The persistent nature of stored XSS attacks means that the malicious payload remains active until explicitly removed from the system, potentially affecting numerous users over extended periods. Organizations utilizing Adobe Experience Manager for customer-facing applications or internal collaboration platforms face heightened risk, as the vulnerability can be exploited through various entry points including user registration forms, comment sections, or any form field that accepts user input. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a weakness where untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or encoding, making it a critical security concern for web applications.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of affected Adobe Experience Manager installations to version 6.5.23 or later, which contains the necessary security fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms across all form fields within their AEM implementations, ensuring that any user-supplied content undergoes proper sanitization before being stored or rendered. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their AEM environments to identify all potential form fields that may be susceptible to this type of attack, implementing additional layers of protection such as content security policies and web application firewalls. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that the security patches do not introduce regressions in existing functionality while maintaining the platform's intended capabilities. Organizations should also establish monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts and implement incident response protocols that address XSS vulnerabilities in their digital experience platforms. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1566.001 which covers social engineering through spearphishing with a link, as attackers may use this vulnerability to create malicious web pages that can be delivered through phishing campaigns. The vulnerability also relates to T1059.007 which covers command and scripting interpreter through PowerShell, as the injected scripts may attempt to execute malicious commands on compromised systems.