CVE-2025-46902: Adobe Experience Manager XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46902 Overview

CVE-2025-46902 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions 6.5.22 and earlier, including AEM Cloud Service. A low-privileged authenticated attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. The payload executes in a victim's browser when they render the page containing the injected field. The issue is tracked under [CWE-79] (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation) and is documented in Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-48.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can persist malicious scripts within AEM-managed forms, hijack sessions, deface content, and pivot to higher-privilege administrative accounts through browser-executed payloads.

Affected Products

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.22 and earlier (on-premise)
Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service (AEM CS)
AEM Forms components exposing user-editable form fields

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-10 - CVE-2025-46902 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46902

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw resides in how Adobe Experience Manager renders user-supplied content inside form fields. Input submitted through the affected fields is stored server-side without adequate output encoding. When another user later loads the page, the browser interprets the stored payload as executable JavaScript rather than inert text. Because the script executes in the context of the AEM origin, it inherits the victim's authenticated session and Same-Origin Policy trust boundary.

The scope is marked as changed, indicating the payload can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component. In practice, this means an attacker operating with limited authoring rights can influence higher-privileged users, including administrators who preview or moderate submitted content.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient contextual output encoding when rendering form field values into HTML. AEM stores attacker-controlled markup verbatim and emits it to downstream visitors, allowing HTML and script tags to break out of the intended data context. This aligns with [CWE-79] classification for stored XSS.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access to the AEM instance and low-level authenticated privileges, typically an author or content contributor account. The attacker submits a crafted payload into a vulnerable form field. User interaction is required, meaning a victim must navigate to the page hosting the injected content. Once rendered, the script executes with the victim's privileges and can perform session theft, CSRF-style actions, or DOM manipulation. No verified public proof-of-concept is available at this time. Refer to the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-48 for vendor-supplied technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46902

Indicators of Compromise

Form field submissions containing <script>, onerror=, onload=, or javascript: URI schemes stored in AEM content repositories.
Unexpected outbound HTTP requests from authenticated author or administrator browsers to attacker-controlled domains.
Anomalous modifications to JCR nodes representing form components by low-privileged authoring accounts.

Detection Strategies

Review AEM access logs for POST requests to /content/forms/ and similar endpoints containing HTML entities or script payloads.
Inspect the JCR repository for stored properties containing script tags or event handler attributes.
Correlate authoring activity by low-privileged accounts with subsequent administrator page-preview events.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable Dispatcher and web application firewall logging with payload capture on all AEM author instances.
Alert on Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports originating from AEM-rendered pages.
Monitor authentication events tied to author accounts for unusual geolocation or session anomalies.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46902

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to the fixed release identified in APSB25-48; AEM Cloud Service customers should confirm they are on a patched service release.
Audit existing form component content for stored script payloads and purge any malicious entries.
Restrict authoring privileges to the minimum necessary and review recent grants to low-privileged users.

Patch Information

Adobe released fixes as part of the June 2025 security update cycle. Administrators should apply the patched version referenced in Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-48 for AEM 6.5.x deployments. AEM Cloud Service instances are updated by Adobe, but customers should verify the current service pack level.

Workarounds

Deploy a strict Content Security Policy that blocks inline scripts and restricts allowed script sources on AEM-published pages.
Configure the AEM Dispatcher and upstream WAF to filter HTML tags and event handler attributes from form field submissions.
Enforce strong role separation so that content submitted by low-privileged authors is reviewed before publication to broader audiences.

bash

# Example Dispatcher filter rule to block script payloads in form submissions
/0100 { /type "deny" /url "*<script*" }
/0101 { /type "deny" /url "*javascript:*" }
/0102 { /type "deny" /url "*onerror=*" }