CVE-2025-46874
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.22 and earlier contain a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows low-privileged attackers to execute malicious JavaScript in victims' browsers by tricking them into visiting specially crafted URLs. This affects organizations using vulnerable AEM instances, potentially compromising user sessions and data.
💻 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, potentially leading to full system compromise if combined with other vulnerabilities.
Likely Case
Session hijacking of low-privileged users, credential theft, or limited data exfiltration from user browsers.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper input validation and output encoding are implemented, though user interaction is still required.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires low-privileged attacker access and user interaction. No public exploit code known.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 6.5.23 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/experience-manager/apsb25-48.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup AEM instance. 2. Download and apply AEM 6.5.23+ update from Adobe Package Manager. 3. Restart AEM instance. 4. Verify update via AEM welcome screen.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement custom servlet filter to sanitize URL parameters containing script tags and special characters.
Custom Java filter implementation required - no single command
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict CSP headers to restrict script execution sources.
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'' to HTTP headers
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules
- Restrict low-privileged user access to vulnerable components
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via Welcome screen (http://[host]:[port]/libs/granite/core/content/login.html) or CRX Package ManagerCheck Version:
curl -s http://localhost:4502/libs/granite/core/content/login.html | grep 'AEM 6.5'Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 6.5.23+ and test URL parameters with script payloads return sanitized output📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual long URL parameters with script tags in access logs
- Multiple failed login attempts after suspicious URL access
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with script tags in query parameters
- Unusual redirect patterns
SIEM Query:
source="aem_access.log" AND (url="*<script>*" OR url="*javascript:*")