CVE-2025-54251
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.23.0 and earlier contain an XML injection vulnerability that allows low-privileged attackers to manipulate XML queries and gain limited unauthorized write access. This could lead to security feature bypass and potential data manipulation. Organizations using affected AEM versions are at risk.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe Experience Manager
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attacker gains unauthorized write access to sensitive data, modifies configuration files, or escalates privileges within the AEM environment.
Likely Case
Limited data manipulation or unauthorized content modifications by authenticated low-privileged users.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper access controls, input validation, and network segmentation in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access and knowledge of AEM XML query structures
🛠️ 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: No
Instructions:
1. Download AEM 6.5.24.0 or later from Adobe distribution portal. 2. Follow Adobe's upgrade documentation for your deployment type (on-premise or cloud). 3. Apply the update to all affected instances. 4. Test functionality after update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict XML Query Access
allLimit access to XML query endpoints to only trusted users and applications
Input Validation
allImplement additional input validation for XML query parameters
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls to limit low-privileged user access to XML query functionality
- Deploy web application firewall with XML injection protection rules
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via Admin Console or by examining the AEM installation directoryCheck Version:
curl -s http://aem-host:port/system/console/status-productinfo | grep 'Adobe Experience Manager'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 6.5.24.0 or later and test XML query functionality📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual XML query patterns
- Multiple failed XML query attempts from single user
- XML query parameter manipulation attempts
Network Indicators:
- Abnormal XML payloads in HTTP requests
- Unusual traffic to XML query endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="aem_logs" AND ("XML query" OR "xmlquery") AND (error OR failed OR unauthorized)