CVE-2021-43761
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's Cloud Service offering, as well as versions 6.5.7.0 (and below), 6.4.8.3 (and below) and 6.3.3.8 (and below) are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by an attacker to inject malicious scripts into vulnerable form fields. Malicious JavaScript may be executed in a victim’s browser when they browse to 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 confidenceA stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into form fields. When victims browse pages containing the compromised fields, the malicious script executes in their browsers, potentially enabling session hijacking or data theft.
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<= 6.5.10.0all versionsCVSS 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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Determine AEM versionAccess the AEM Web Console (system/console/bundles) or check the crx-quickstart/package.xml file to identify the installed Adobe Experience Manager versionAffected if The installed version is 6.5.10.0 or lower, or the instance is AEM Cloud Service (any version)
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Identify custom form componentsReview the /apps folder in CRX/DE for custom form components (fields with .html files in form-related directories). Check for components under /apps/your-project/components that extend core form componentsAffected if Custom form components that lack input validation and output encoding are present in the environment
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Review adaptive form configurationsNavigate to the Forms UI (tools/forms) in AEM and enumerate all adaptive forms and form models. Check each form's submission properties and field validation settingsAffected if Adaptive forms exist and rely on default validation without custom input sanitization
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Inspect form field output encodingView the HTML source of rendered form pages. Check form input fields (input, textarea, select) to see if values are properly encoded. Look for unencoded special characters in attributes like value, placeholder, or data- variablesAffected if Form fields display unescaped HTML or JavaScript characters (such as <, >, ", ', or & in their raw form in the page source)
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Check for existing injected scriptsSearch the AEM content repository (using CRXDE or Query Builder) for suspicious patterns in form data, such as <script> tags, javascript: URIs, or event handler attributes (onclick, onerror, etc.) stored in form field content nodesAffected if Malicious script tags or event handlers are found stored in form field data nodes under /content
You are affected if your AEM version is 6.5.10.0 or lower (or you are on Cloud Service) AND you have custom or adaptive forms that accept user input without proper input validation and output encoding, allowing stored XSS payloads to execute when the form page is viewed.
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 patched version beyond 6.5.7.0, 6.4.8.3, or 6.3.3.8. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on form fields to prevent script injection.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-43761 — 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-2021-43761 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
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