CVE-2024-26049
📋 TL;DR
This stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows privileged attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. When victims browse pages containing these fields, their browsers execute the attacker's scripts. This affects Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Experience Manager
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Privileged attacker steals administrator credentials, takes full control of the AEM instance, and compromises all managed content and user data.
Likely Case
Privileged attacker performs session hijacking, steals sensitive data from user sessions, or defaces website content.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized before reaching user browsers.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated privileged access; stored XSS attacks are well-understood attack vectors
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 6.5.21 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/experience-manager/apsb24-28.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 or later from Adobe's distribution portal. 2. Apply the service pack following Adobe's installation instructions. 3. Restart all AEM instances. 4. Verify the update was successful.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement custom servlet filters to sanitize all user input in form fields
Implement Java servlet filter with OWASP Java Encoder library
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict CSP headers to prevent script execution from untrusted sources
Add 'Content-Security-Policy' header with script-src 'self'
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict privileged user access to only trusted administrators
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via CRXDE Lite or system console; if version is 6.5.20 or earlier, system is vulnerableCheck Version:
curl -u admin:password http://localhost:4502/system/console/status-productinfoVerify Fix Applied:
Verify AEM version is 6.5.21 or later and test form fields with XSS payloads to confirm sanitization📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual content modifications by privileged users
- JavaScript payloads in request logs
- Multiple failed XSS attempts
Network Indicators:
- Suspicious script tags in HTTP requests
- Unusual outbound connections from user browsers
SIEM Query:
source="aem-access.log" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=")