CVE-2024-26115
📋 TL;DR
This reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows attackers to execute malicious JavaScript in victims' browsers by tricking them into clicking specially crafted URLs. It affects Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier. The vulnerability requires user interaction but can lead to session hijacking, data theft, or further attacks.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Experience Manager
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attacker steals administrator session cookies, gains full administrative access to AEM instance, deploys backdoors, exfiltrates sensitive data, and compromises the entire content management system.
Likely Case
Attacker steals user session cookies, performs actions as authenticated users, accesses sensitive content, and potentially escalates privileges within the AEM environment.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy (CSP) headers preventing script execution.
🎯 Exploit Status
Reflected XSS typically requires social engineering to trick users into clicking malicious links. No authentication required to trigger the vulnerability.
🛠️ 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 upgrade documentation. 3. Restart the AEM instance. 4. Verify the patch is applied successfully.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Content Security Policy
allAdd CSP headers to restrict script execution from untrusted sources
Add to Apache config: Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"
Add to Nginx config: add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'";
Web Application Firewall Rules
allConfigure WAF to block requests containing suspicious script patterns
ModSecurity rule: SecRule ARGS "<script" "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'XSS Attack Detected'"
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation and output encoding on all user-controllable inputs
- Deploy web application firewall with XSS protection rules and monitor for attack attempts
🔍 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 vulnerable.Check Version:
curl -s http://localhost:4502/system/console/status-productinfo | grep 'Adobe Experience Manager'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify AEM version is 6.5.21 or later. Test vulnerable endpoints with XSS payloads to confirm they're properly sanitized.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript payloads in URL parameters
- Multiple 403 responses from WAF blocking XSS attempts
- Unusual user agent strings or referrer headers
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with encoded script payloads in query strings
- Traffic patterns showing users clicking on suspicious external links
SIEM Query:
source="aem-access.log" AND ("<script" OR "javascript:" OR "onload=" OR "onerror=")