CVE-2025-46968: Adobe Experience Manager XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46968 Overview

CVE-2025-46968 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions 6.5.22 and earlier. A low-privileged authenticated attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. The payload persists in the application and executes in a victim's browser when they visit the affected page. The flaw is categorized under [CWE-79] Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation.

Exploitation requires user interaction and results in script execution within the victim's browser context. Successful attacks can lead to session token theft, unauthorized actions on behalf of the victim, and content defacement within the AEM interface.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with low privileges can persistently inject JavaScript into AEM form fields, executing arbitrary script in victim browsers and potentially compromising administrator sessions.

Affected Products

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.22 and earlier (on-premise)
Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service (affected releases)
AEM instances exposing vulnerable form authoring components

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-10 - CVE-2025-46968 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2025-06-10 - Adobe publishes security bulletin APSB25-48
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46968

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in how Adobe Experience Manager handles input submitted through certain form fields. AEM fails to properly neutralize user-supplied content before storing it and rendering it back to other users. This allows an authenticated attacker to inject HTML and JavaScript that persists across sessions.

Because the attack requires only low privileges, any account with content authoring or form submission rights can plant a payload. When a privileged user, such as an administrator, later views the affected page, the injected script executes with their session context. The scope change indicates that the impact can cross security boundaries within the AEM environment.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient output encoding on form field values before they are rendered into HTML responses. AEM stores the raw input in its content repository and later inserts it into the DOM without contextual escaping. Any string containing <script> tags or event handlers such as onerror is interpreted as executable markup by the browser.

Attack Vector

The attacker authenticates to AEM with a low-privileged account that can edit or submit form fields. They submit a payload containing JavaScript, such as an event handler embedded in an attribute or a script tag within a text field. The payload is stored in the AEM repository and rendered whenever another user browses the affected page. Because the vulnerability is stored, no direct social engineering is required beyond enticing a victim to visit a legitimate application URL.

No public proof-of-concept exploit or exploit database entry is available at the time of writing. Refer to the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-48 for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46968

Indicators of Compromise

Form field values in the AEM content repository containing <script>, javascript:, or DOM event handler attributes such as onerror= and onload=
Unexpected outbound HTTP requests from administrator browsers to attacker-controlled domains shortly after visiting AEM authoring pages
Modifications to AEM content nodes performed by low-privileged accounts outside normal working hours
Session cookies for AEM administrator accounts appearing in third-party referrer logs

Detection Strategies

Review AEM audit logs for content modifications by low-privileged users that include HTML markup in text-only fields
Deploy content security policy (CSP) reporting to identify inline script execution originating from AEM pages
Perform repository-wide regex scans for known XSS payload patterns across cq:PageContent and form component nodes
Correlate authoring activity with subsequent administrator page views to identify potential trigger events

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose logging on AEM Dispatcher and authoring instances to capture request bodies containing suspicious markup
Forward AEM access and audit logs to a centralized analytics platform for continuous inspection
Alert on new or modified content containing HTML tags submitted through fields expected to contain plain text
Track browser console errors reported by administrators, which may indicate injected script execution failures

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46968

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to a version later than 6.5.22 as specified in the vendor advisory
Audit the AEM content repository for previously injected payloads and remove malicious markup
Review recent form submissions and content edits made by low-privileged accounts for signs of exploitation
Rotate session tokens and administrator credentials if evidence of exploitation is found

Patch Information

Adobe released fixes for CVE-2025-46968 in the security bulletin APSB25-48. Customers running AEM 6.5 should apply Service Pack 23 or later. AEM as a Cloud Service customers receive the fix through Adobe's managed release channel. Verify installed versions using the AEM Web Console and confirm the patch level after installation.

Workarounds

Restrict form authoring and content submission permissions to trusted user groups until patching is complete
Deploy a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on AEM-served pages
Configure the AEM Dispatcher to filter request bodies for HTML markup in fields expected to contain plain text
Place a web application firewall in front of AEM to block requests containing common XSS signatures

bash

# Example AEM Dispatcher filter rule to reject requests containing script tags
/0100 { /type "deny" /url '*<script*' }
/0101 { /type "deny" /url '*javascript:*' }
/0102 { /type "deny" /url '*onerror=*' }