CVE-2025-54248
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.23.0 and earlier have an improper input validation vulnerability that allows low-privileged attackers to bypass security measures and gain unauthorized read access. This affects organizations using Adobe Experience Manager for content management with users who have low-privilege accounts.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Experience Manager
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker could gain unauthorized read access to sensitive content, configuration files, or user data stored in AEM, potentially leading to data exposure or further privilege escalation.
Likely Case
Low-privileged authenticated users could access content or resources they shouldn't be able to view, violating access controls and potentially exposing sensitive information.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and strict access controls, the impact would be limited to unauthorized read access within the AEM instance's accessible data.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires authenticated low-privilege access; exploitation likely involves crafted input to bypass validation checks.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 6.5.24.0 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/experience-manager/apsb25-90.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download AEM 6.5.24.0 or later from Adobe's distribution portal. 2. Follow Adobe's upgrade procedures for your deployment type (on-premise or cloud). 3. Restart AEM instances after applying the update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict low-privilege user access
allTemporarily reduce permissions for low-privilege users to minimize attack surface while planning upgrade.
Network segmentation
allIsolate AEM instances from untrusted networks and implement strict firewall rules.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls and principle of least privilege for all AEM user accounts
- Monitor AEM logs for unusual access patterns or failed authorization attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via the Welcome screen or CRXDE Lite; versions 6.5.23.0 or earlier are vulnerable.Check Version:
Check via AEM Welcome screen or use CRXDE Lite to examine /libs/cq/core/content/welcome.html propertiesVerify Fix Applied:
Verify AEM version is 6.5.24.0 or later and test that low-privilege users cannot access unauthorized content.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual access patterns from low-privilege accounts
- Failed authorization attempts followed by successful access
Network Indicators:
- Unusual HTTP requests to AEM endpoints from authenticated low-privilege users
SIEM Query:
source="aem-access.log" AND (event="AUTHENTICATION_SUCCESS" AND user="low-privilege-account" AND resource="sensitive-path")