CVE-2025-47029 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 enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver personalized content across multiple channels. The platform serves as a central hub for content management, digital asset management, and customer experience orchestration. Given its critical role in enterprise digital infrastructure, vulnerabilities within AEM can have substantial impact on organizational security postures. This stored cross-site scripting vulnerability specifically affects versions 6.5.22 and earlier, indicating a long-standing issue that has persisted through multiple releases. The vulnerability manifests in form fields where user input is not properly sanitized or validated, creating opportunities for malicious actors to inject persistent script payloads.
The technical flaw resides in the insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the AEM form processing components. When users submit data through web forms within the AEM interface, the system fails to adequately sanitize the input before storing it in the backend database or rendering it in subsequent page views. This stored data becomes vulnerable to XSS attacks because the platform does not implement proper context-aware encoding for different output contexts such as HTML, JavaScript, or CSS. Attackers can exploit this by crafting malicious payloads that include script tags, event handlers, or other XSS vectors that get executed when legitimate users view the affected pages. The vulnerability is classified as a stored XSS because the malicious code is persisted server-side and executed whenever the vulnerable content is rendered, rather than requiring a direct browser-based attack vector.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform various malicious activities within the victim's browser context. Low-privileged attackers who can submit data through forms may gain access to session cookies, potentially leading to account takeover scenarios. The vulnerability can also facilitate more sophisticated attacks such as phishing, credential harvesting, or redirection to malicious sites. Since AEM is often used for content management and digital marketing, compromised instances could allow attackers to modify published content, inject malicious advertisements, or redirect users to harmful websites. The persistence of the vulnerability across multiple versions suggests that organizations running older AEM deployments face ongoing risk exposure, particularly in environments where patch management processes are delayed or incomplete. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-79 which describes cross-site scripting flaws, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for credential harvesting through phishing.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to AEM versions that have addressed this vulnerability, typically those beyond 6.5.22. Additionally, implementing input validation at multiple layers including client-side and server-side can provide defense-in-depth measures. Web Application Firewalls should be configured to detect and block common XSS patterns in form submissions. Regular security scanning of AEM instances and input fields can help identify potential exploitation attempts. Access controls should be reviewed to minimize the attack surface, ensuring that only authorized users can submit data to vulnerable form components. Security awareness training for content editors and administrators can help prevent accidental exploitation through social engineering attacks. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing proper input sanitization practices across all web applications. Regular penetration testing and vulnerability assessments should be conducted to identify similar issues in custom AEM implementations or third-party modules that may not have received timely security updates.