CVE-2024-36204
📋 TL;DR
This stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. When users visit pages containing these compromised fields, their browsers execute the attacker's code. 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
Attackers could steal administrator session cookies, perform actions as authenticated users, deface websites, or redirect users to malicious sites.
Likely Case
Attackers steal user session cookies or credentials, perform limited unauthorized actions, or deface specific pages.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, the vulnerability would be prevented, though the underlying code flaw remains.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires attacker to have access to create or modify content in vulnerable form fields. Stored XSS typically has lower complexity than reflected XSS.
🛠️ 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 update was successful.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement server-side input validation to sanitize user input in form fields
Implement custom servlet filter or use AEM's XSS API (org.apache.sling.xss.XSSAPI)
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution
Add Content-Security-Policy header via dispatcher or web server configuration
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads
- Restrict user permissions to prevent unauthorized content creation/modification
🔍 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 -u admin:password http://localhost:4502/system/console/status-productinfo.json | grep "Adobe Experience Manager"Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, verify version is 6.5.21 or later. Test form fields with safe XSS payloads to confirm they're properly sanitized.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual content creation/modification patterns
- Suspicious script tags in content repository
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript in form parameters
SIEM Query:
source="aem-access.log" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=")