Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2022-30686

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.5.13.0 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 · unedited
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.13.0 (and earlier) is affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. If an attacker is able to convince a victim to visit a URL referencing a vulnerable page, malicious JavaScript content may be executed within the context of the victim's browser. Exploitation of this issue requires low-privilege access to AEM.

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 · moderate confidence

A reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.13.0 and earlier allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into URL parameters that are reflected in the response without proper sanitization. Successful exploitation requires tricking a victim into visiting a crafted URL, enabling script execution within the victim's browser context.

MitigationImplement proper input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied parameters, particularly in reflected content. Additionally, configure Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS execution.

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
Experience ManagerApplication
Affected:<= 6.5.13.0all versions

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Adobe Experience Manager is installed
    Check for AEM by accessing the main page or looking for /libs/granite/core/content/login.html or /aem/start.html paths. You can also check for the presence of AEM-specific directories like /apps, /libs, or /content in the web root.
    Affected if AEM is present in the environment
  2. Determine the installed AEM version
    Access the AEM System Information console at /system/console/bundles or check the crx-quickstart/package.properties file for the product.version property. You can also append ?cmd=version to the AEM login page.
    Affected if The version is 6.5.13.0 or earlier, or if the version cannot be determined and AEM is confirmed present
  3. Identify reflected URL parameters without sanitization
    Test the application by submitting various URL parameters with special characters like <script>alert(1)</script> or '" onerror=alert(1) ' and observe if these are reflected unescaped in the HTML response. Focus on commonly used parameters such as path, resource, or redirect parameters.
    Affected if User-supplied URL parameter values appear in the response page without HTML encoding or escaping
  4. Check for Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as mitigating control
    Inspect HTTP response headers for Content-Security-Policy or X-Content-Security-Policy headers using browser dev tools, curl -I command, or a proxy interceptor. Also check the Apache Sling CSP servlet configuration.
    Affected if No CSP headers are configured and URL parameters are reflected without sanitization, indicating the vulnerability is exploitable

You are affected if Adobe Experience Manager is confirmed installed with version 6.5.13.0 or earlier AND URL parameters are being reflected in responses without proper HTML encoding, particularly if no CSP headers are present to mitigate XSS execution.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.5.13.0
Interim mitigation

Implement proper input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied parameters, particularly in reflected content. Additionally, configure Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS execution.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

AEM 6.5.14.0 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current Adobe Experience Manager version in use by checking the AEM Welcome page or system console
  2. 2. Plan an upgrade to AEM 6.5.14.0 or later, which contains the fix for this reflected XSS vulnerability (CVE-2022-30686)
  3. 3. Before production deployment, test the upgrade in a staging environment to verify compatibility with existing customizations
  4. 4. Create a full backup of the AEM repository (segmentstore) and database before upgrading
  5. 5. Deploy the upgraded AEM version to production after successful staging validation
  6. 6. Verify that the upgrade was successful and that the XSS vulnerability is no longer present
Caveat Review Adobe's 6.5.14.0 release notes for any compatibility notes or deprecated features before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-30686 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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