CVE-2025-46981
📋 TL;DR
This stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows low-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 AEM versions 6.5.22 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
Session hijacking of low-privileged users, credential theft, or limited website defacement.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper input validation and output encoding are implemented at application layer.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access to vulnerable form fields. Stored XSS typically has low complexity once vulnerable fields are identified.
🛠️ 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. Download AEM 6.5.23 or later from Adobe distribution portal. 2. Apply the service pack following Adobe's upgrade documentation. 3. Restart AEM instances. 4. Verify successful upgrade.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement custom servlet filters to sanitize user input in form fields
Implement Java servlet filter with OWASP Java Encoder library for input sanitization
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict CSP headers to mitigate XSS impact
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'' to HTTP headers
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules
- Restrict user permissions to minimize who can access vulnerable form fields
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via OSGi console or CRXDE. If version is 6.5.22 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
curl -u admin:password http://localhost:4502/system/console/status-productinfo | grep 'Adobe Experience Manager'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify AEM version is 6.5.23 or later. Test form fields with safe XSS payloads to confirm sanitization.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to form submission endpoints
- JavaScript payloads in request parameters
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by form submissions
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript in form parameters
- Unusual outbound connections from AEM server after form submissions
SIEM Query:
source="aem_access.log" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=")