CVE-2025-46874: Adobe Experience Manager XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46874 Overview

CVE-2025-46874 is a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions 6.5.22 and earlier, including AEM Cloud Service. A low-privileged attacker can craft a malicious URL that, when visited by an authenticated victim, executes arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser context. The scope is changed, meaning script execution can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component. Adobe published details in security bulletin APSB25-48.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to execute malicious JavaScript in a victim's browser session, enabling session data theft, unauthorized actions within AEM, and potential pivot into administrative workflows.

Affected Products

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.22 and earlier (on-premises)
Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service (AEM as a Cloud Service)
All AEM deployments using unpatched authoring or publishing components

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-10 - CVE-2025-46874 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46874

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a reflected XSS flaw in an Adobe Experience Manager page. Reflected XSS occurs when user-supplied input is echoed back in an HTTP response without proper output encoding or input sanitization. An attacker crafts a URL containing malicious JavaScript in a query parameter or path segment. When a victim visits the URL while authenticated to AEM, the browser executes the script under the origin of the AEM instance.

Because the CVSS scope is changed, injected script can influence resources outside the vulnerable component's security boundary. This is significant in AEM, where authoring consoles, dispatcher endpoints, and content fragments share the same authenticated session. Attackers can leverage the flaw to steal session tokens, submit CSRF-style requests to administrative endpoints, or inject content into authored pages.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of input during web page generation. A vulnerable AEM component reflects request parameters into the HTML response without contextual escaping. Adobe has not disclosed the specific servlet or JSP responsible.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an authenticated low-privileged AEM user to click a crafted link, satisfying the user-interaction requirement. The attack is delivered over the network via HTTP or HTTPS, typically through phishing emails, malicious chat messages, or embedded links on attacker-controlled sites. No local access is needed. The vulnerability manifests when the crafted parameter reaches the reflection sink; see the Adobe advisory for details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46874

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to AEM endpoints containing script tags, JavaScript event handlers, or encoded payloads such as %3Cscript%3E in query parameters
Web server access logs showing unusual Referer headers pointing to external phishing domains
Unexpected outbound requests from AEM author or publish instances to attacker-controlled hosts following user activity
Session tokens or authentication cookies appearing in external log destinations

Detection Strategies

Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules that identify reflected XSS payload patterns in inbound requests to AEM paths
Correlate authenticated AEM user sessions with anomalous DOM-modifying activity or credential submission events
Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to capture script execution violations for review

Monitoring Recommendations

Aggregate AEM dispatcher, author, and publish logs into a centralized analytics platform for query and correlation
Alert on repeated 200 OK responses to requests containing encoded HTML or JavaScript metacharacters
Track user-agent, IP, and referrer anomalies for accounts with AEM content authoring privileges

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46874

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the Adobe security update referenced in bulletin APSB25-48 to all AEM instances at or below version 6.5.22
Verify that AEM as a Cloud Service tenants have received the vendor-managed patch cycle
Audit AEM user accounts and remove or downgrade unused low-privileged authoring accounts that could be leveraged in phishing
Reset session cookies and rotate API tokens if suspicious authenticated access is observed

Patch Information

Adobe released fixes documented in the Adobe Experience Manager Security Advisory (APSB25-48). Administrators should upgrade to AEM 6.5.23 or the latest service pack that supersedes it. AEM Cloud Service customers receive updates automatically through Adobe's release channel.

Workarounds

Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that blocks inline script execution on AEM-served pages
Configure the AEM dispatcher to reject requests containing HTML tags or script metacharacters in query parameters
Restrict access to AEM author and publish interfaces to VPN or IP-allowlisted networks to reduce phishing exposure

bash

# Example dispatcher filter rule to block script-like query parameters
/0100 { /type "deny" /url '*<script*' }
/0101 { /type "deny" /url '*javascript:*' }
/0102 { /type "deny" /url '*%3Cscript*' }