CVE-2025-46892 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 • 06/13/2025
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive content management platform widely deployed across enterprise environments for digital experience management. The platform serves as a central hub for creating, managing, and delivering digital content across multiple channels. This particular vulnerability affects versions 6.5.22 and earlier, which indicates a long-standing issue that has persisted across multiple release cycles. The affected system components primarily involve form processing mechanisms and user input validation within the AEM interface. Security researchers identified that the platform fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data when processing form submissions, creating a persistent vector for malicious code injection. The vulnerability specifically targets form fields where users can enter content, making it particularly dangerous in collaborative environments where multiple users contribute to shared content repositories.
The technical flaw manifests as a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that operates through the platform's content rendering pipeline. When a malicious user submits a form containing crafted javascript payloads, the system stores this input without adequate sanitization or encoding. Subsequently, when other users view the page containing the vulnerable form field, their browsers execute the stored malicious script within their browsing context. This behavior violates fundamental web security principles and represents a classic stored XSS attack pattern. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the AEM form processing framework. The attack vector leverages the platform's legitimate content rendering capabilities to deliver malicious payloads, making detection more challenging. This flaw aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, and demonstrates how insufficient sanitization of user inputs can create persistent security weaknesses.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, potentially enabling attackers to compromise user sessions, steal sensitive information, or manipulate content within the AEM environment. Low privilege attackers can exploit this vulnerability to escalate their access level or create persistent backdoors within the content management system. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that malicious code remains active until manually removed, providing attackers with extended persistence windows. In enterprise environments where AEM serves as a critical digital experience platform, this vulnerability could enable attackers to compromise multiple user sessions simultaneously. The vulnerability affects both content authors and administrators who may inadvertently view compromised form fields, creating a broad attack surface. Additionally, the compromised environment could be used to launch further attacks against other systems within the enterprise network, particularly if the AEM system has access to sensitive databases or internal resources.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches released by Adobe to address this vulnerability. The patch addresses the underlying input validation issues and implements proper output encoding for form fields. Network segmentation should be enforced to limit access to AEM systems, particularly for users who do not require administrative privileges. Input validation should be strengthened at multiple layers including client-side and server-side filtering mechanisms. Regular security assessments should be conducted to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities within the AEM environment. The implementation of content security policies can help prevent execution of unauthorized scripts even if exploitation occurs. Additionally, monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual form submissions or patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security awareness training for content authors and administrators should emphasize the dangers of submitting untrusted content to form fields. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and highlights the risks associated with legacy software versions that may not receive ongoing security support. This case study reinforces the need for comprehensive vulnerability management programs that address both known and emerging threats within enterprise content management systems.