CVE-2020-9740
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAEM versions 6.5.5.0 (and below), 6.4.8.1 (and below), 6.3.3.8 (and below) and 6.2 SP1-CFP20 (and below) are affected by a stored XSS vulnerability that allows users with 'Author' privileges to store malicious scripts in fields associated with the Design Importer. These scripts may be executed in a victim’s browser when they open the page containing the vulnerable field.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.5.0 and below, 6.4.8.1 and below, 6.3.3.8 and below, and 6.2 SP1-CFP20 and below contain a stored XSS vulnerability in the Design Importer component. Users with Author privileges can inject malicious JavaScript into Design Importer fields, which persists and executes in victims' browsers when they view pages containing the compromised field.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 6.3.0.0, <= 6.3.3.8>= 6.4.0.0, <= 6.4.8.1>= 6.5.0.0, <= 6.5.5.0= 6.2.0.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify AEM versionAccess the AEM System Information console at /system/console/productinfo or check the version.properties file in the crx-quickstart folderAffected if The installed version falls within 6.3.0.0-6.3.3.8, 6.4.0.0-6.4.8.1, 6.5.0.0-6.5.5.0, or is exactly 6.2.0.0
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Verify Design Importer component statusNavigate to AEM Package Manager and search for the Design Importer package, or check the OSGi component list at /system/console/components for Design Importer-related bundlesAffected if The Design Importer component is installed and active on the system
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Inspect Design Importer configurationsAccess the Design Importer configuration at /etc/designs or navigate to the Design Importer UI at /miscadmin and review any imported designs for suspicious field contentAffected if Any Design Importer configurations contain unexpected or encoded JavaScript content in text fields
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Check for stored XSS payloads in Design Importer fieldsUse CRXDE Lite or the Query Builder to search the repository under /etc/designs for nodes containing script tags, javascript:, or on* event handlers in Design Importer-related contentAffected if Any stored content in Design Importer paths contains malicious script injection patterns
You are affected if your AEM version is within the listed ranges AND the Design Importer component is enabled with potentially malicious content stored in its fields.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade AEM to a version beyond the affected releases (6.5.6.0, 6.4.8.2, 6.3.3.9, or the fixed 6.2 SP1-CFP21 and later). Alternatively, apply the corresponding security hotfix. Restrict Design Importer field inputs and implement output encoding as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9740 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-9740 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data