CVE-2025-64850
📋 TL;DR
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.23 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability that allows low-privileged attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into form fields. When users visit pages containing the compromised fields, their browsers execute the attacker's code. This affects organizations using vulnerable AEM instances for content management.
💻 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.
Likely Case
Attackers with low privileges inject malicious scripts to steal session cookies or credentials from users who view the compromised pages, enabling account takeover.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized, preventing execution in user browsers.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated low-privileged access; stored XSS is persistent across user sessions.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 6.5.24 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/experience-manager/apsb25-115.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download AEM 6.5.24 or later from Adobe. 2. Backup current instance. 3. Apply the update following Adobe's upgrade documentation. 4. Restart the AEM service.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Input Validation
allAdd server-side validation to sanitize user input in form fields before storage.
Apply Output Encoding
allEncode user-controlled data when rendering in HTML contexts to prevent script execution.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict low-privileged user access to form fields where possible.
- Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit script execution.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AEM version via the Welcome screen or OSGi console; if version is 6.5.23 or earlier, it is vulnerable.Check Version:
curl -k https://<aem-host>:<port>/system/console/status-productinfo | grep 'Adobe Experience Manager'Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, confirm version is 6.5.24 or later and test form fields for XSS by attempting to inject script tags.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to form submission endpoints with script tags in parameters.
- Log entries showing JavaScript payloads in stored content.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing <script> tags in form data to AEM endpoints.
SIEM Query:
source="aem_access.log" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:")