CVE-2025-47022 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 • 06/16/2025
Adobe Experience Manager represents a comprehensive digital experience platform that serves as a cornerstone for enterprise content management and digital marketing operations. The platform's widespread adoption across organizations makes it a prime target for cyber adversaries seeking to exploit vulnerabilities that could compromise large-scale digital ecosystems. This particular vulnerability resides within the form handling mechanisms of AEM's content management capabilities, where user input is processed and stored for later retrieval. The stored XSS vulnerability specifically targets the way the system handles form field data, creating a persistent threat vector that can affect multiple users over time.
The technical flaw manifests in the insufficient sanitization and validation of user input within form fields that are subsequently stored in the AEM database. When a low privileged attacker submits malicious JavaScript code through a vulnerable form, the platform fails to properly filter or escape the input before storing it. This allows the malicious payload to be permanently embedded within the application's data store, making it persistent across sessions and user interactions. The vulnerability specifically affects versions 6.5.22 and earlier, indicating that the sanitization mechanisms were either inadequate or introduced after the affected versions were released. This flaw falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which represents one of the most prevalent and dangerous web application vulnerabilities in the industry.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple script execution, as it provides attackers with a mechanism to compromise the entire user session and potentially escalate privileges within the AEM environment. When victims browse to pages containing the stored malicious content, their browsers execute the injected JavaScript code, which could enable attackers to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that even users with minimal access rights could potentially compromise the platform's security posture. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which focuses on "Account Access Removal" and T1059.007 which covers "Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript", demonstrating how such vulnerabilities can be leveraged to establish persistent access and execute malicious code within the target environment.
Organizations utilizing Adobe Experience Manager must implement immediate mitigations to protect their digital assets from exploitation. The most effective approach involves upgrading to versions of AEM that have addressed this vulnerability, which typically includes enhanced input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can provide an additional layer of protection by restricting the sources from which scripts can be executed within the browser context. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all form fields within their AEM implementations to identify and remediate any other potential XSS vulnerabilities. The mitigation strategy should align with NIST SP 800-53 security controls, particularly those related to input validation and output encoding, to ensure comprehensive protection against similar threats. Regular security testing and monitoring of user-generated content submissions should be implemented as ongoing measures to detect and prevent future exploitation attempts.