CVE-2023-22271
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 · uneditedExperience Manager versions 6.5.15.0 (and earlier) are affected by a Weak Cryptography for Passwords vulnerability that can lead to a security feature bypass. A low-privileged attacker can exploit this in order to decrypt a user's password. The attack complexity is high since a successful exploitation requires to already have in possession this encrypted secret.
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 6.5.15.0 and earlier use weak cryptography to protect user passwords, allowing a low-privileged attacker who already possesses the encrypted password to decrypt it. The high attack complexity limits practical exploitation but still represents a significant security gap.
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< 6.5.16.0< 2023.1.0CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Check Adobe Experience Manager on-premise versionNavigate to the AEM Welcome page (typically at /libs/granite/security/content/userinfo.html or check the 'About Adobe Experience Manager' option in the help menu). Alternatively, check the version.properties file in the crx-quickstart folder.Affected if The installed version is older than 6.5.16.0 (for example, 6.5.14.0, 6.5.15.0, or any version listed as 6.5.15.0 and earlier).
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Check Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service versionAccess the Cloud Service environment details through the Adobe Cloud Manager UI, or check the release information in the AEM SDK or release notes for the specific deployment.Affected if The Cloud Service version is older than 2023.1.0.
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Confirm the weak cryptography configuration is in useExamine the password encryption mechanism configured in the AEM Identity Provider or LDAP identity store configuration (typically found under /libs/granite/security/content/userstore.html or via the Web Console at /system/console/configMgr for the 'Adobe Granite LDAP Identity Provider' or 'Apache Jackrabbit Oak Token Configuration').Affected if The password encryption is set to a weak algorithm (such as SHA-1 or older hashing) and the AEM version falls within the affected ranges.
You are affected if your AEM on-premise version is below 6.5.16.0 or your AEM Cloud Service version is below 2023.1.0, and the system uses the default password encryption that was shipped with those vulnerable versions.
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.
dbcve · scoped6.5.16.02023.1.0
Apply the vendor patch by upgrading to a version newer than 6.5.15.0; if immediate patching is not feasible, implement additional compensating controls such as restricting access to password storage mechanisms and monitoring for unauthorized access to encrypted credentials.
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.16.0 or later / AEM Cloud Service 2023.1.0 or later
- Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.16.0 or later
- For AEM Cloud Service, ensure deployments use version 2023.1.0 or later
- After upgrading, verify that user password encryption uses the updated cryptographic mechanisms
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-22271 — 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-2023-22271 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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