CVE-2025-46987: Adobe Experience Manager XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46987 Overview

CVE-2025-46987 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 attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. The payload persists in the application and executes in the browser of any user who later views the affected page.

The issue is tracked under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation. Adobe published fixes in security bulletin APSB25-48.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in victim browsers, enabling session theft, credential harvesting, and unauthorized actions in the context of the AEM authoring environment.

Affected Products

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.22 and earlier
Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service (AEM CS)
AEM form components rendering unsanitized user input

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-10 - CVE-2025-46987 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46987

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw resides in AEM form field handling, where user-supplied input is stored and later rendered without sufficient output encoding. An authenticated attacker with content-authoring privileges submits crafted input containing HTML or JavaScript. AEM persists the payload in the underlying content repository.

When a subsequent user, including higher-privileged administrators, browses to the page containing the affected form field, the browser parses the injected markup as executable script. Because the attack is stored rather than reflected, exploitation does not require the attacker to distribute a link. Every visitor to the affected page becomes a potential victim.

The scope-changed nature of the vulnerability means the injected script can affect resources outside the vulnerable component, including cookies, tokens, and DOM elements belonging to other AEM services. User interaction is required, limiting fully automated exploitation.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or incomplete output encoding on form field values before they are inserted into the HTML response. AEM's HTL (HTML Template Language) provides context-aware escaping, but the affected components either bypass it or apply an incorrect escaping context. Input passes through the persistence layer unchanged and is rendered verbatim.

Attack Vector

Exploitation follows a standard stored XSS pattern. The attacker authenticates to AEM with low-privilege author or contributor credentials. They then locate a form component whose values are rendered without encoding and submit a payload such as a <script> tag or an event handler attribute. The payload is stored in the JCR repository.

When a victim loads the page, the browser executes the script in the AEM origin. The attacker can steal session cookies, invoke AEM APIs on the victim's behalf, or pivot toward administrative functions. See the Adobe Security Advisory APSB25-48 for vendor-confirmed technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46987

Indicators of Compromise

Form field values in the JCR repository containing <script>, javascript:, or DOM event handler attributes such as onerror and onload
Unexpected outbound HTTP requests from author or publish instances to attacker-controlled domains
AEM audit log entries showing form submissions containing HTML tags from low-privileged accounts
Browser Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports originating from AEM-rendered pages

Detection Strategies

Review AEM access logs for POST requests to form-handling endpoints containing encoded script payloads such as %3Cscript%3E or %3Cimg
Query the JCR repository for stored property values matching XSS signature patterns
Correlate authoring activity with subsequent anomalous session behavior from viewers of the same content path
Enable and monitor CSP report-only headers to surface injected inline scripts

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest AEM request.log, error.log, and audit logs into a centralized SIEM for pattern matching
Alert on new or unusual JavaScript sources loaded by AEM-rendered pages
Monitor administrator session activity for actions occurring immediately after viewing author-generated content
Track privilege escalation events on AEM accounts that recently viewed form-heavy pages

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46987

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the security updates listed in Adobe bulletin APSB25-48 to AEM 6.5 on-premises deployments
Confirm AEM Cloud Service instances are running a current release that includes the fix
Audit author and contributor accounts, removing unused or over-privileged users
Inspect existing form field content for stored payloads and remove any malicious entries

Patch Information

Adobe addressed this vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager Service Pack releases published alongside bulletin APSB25-48. Customers running AEM 6.5.22 or earlier must upgrade to the fixed Service Pack. AEM Cloud Service customers receive fixes through the standard release channel and should verify their deployment is on a patched build.

Workarounds

Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts and restricts script sources to trusted origins
Restrict form authoring permissions to a minimal set of trusted users pending patch deployment
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set to block requests containing common XSS payloads targeting AEM form endpoints
Enable AEM's dispatcher filters to strip suspicious characters from parameters where feasible

bash

# Example AEM dispatcher filter snippet to reject suspicious form input
/0100 { /type "deny" /url "*<script*" }
/0101 { /type "deny" /url "*javascript:*" }
/0102 { /type "deny" /url "*onerror=*" }