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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2023-38215

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.5.18.0 / 2023.8.0 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 6.5.17 and earlier are affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. If a low-privileged 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.

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 confidence

Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.17 and earlier contain a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability where user-supplied input in a URL parameter is rendered back to the user without proper sanitization, allowing execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser when they visit a malicious URL.

MitigationApply the vendor patch to upgrade AEM beyond version 6.5.17, or implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to filter malicious URL parameters containing script tags.

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:< 6.5.18.0
Experience Manager Cloud ServiceApplication
Affected:< 2023.8.0

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. Identify AEM deployment type
    Determine if the installation is Adobe Experience Manager on-premise or AEM Cloud Service. Check your deployment documentation or contact your AEM administrator to confirm the hosting model.
    Affected if Running AEM Cloud Service requires checking the 2023.8.0 threshold; on-premise requires checking the 6.5.18.0 threshold.
  2. Check AEM on-premise version
    Access the AEM Welcome page and navigate to Tools > Operations > Diagnosis > Version Info, or append /system/console/configMgr to your AEM URL and check the Product Version shown in the console header.
    Affected if The installed version is less than 6.5.18.0 for on-premise installations.
  3. Check AEM Cloud Service version
    Access the Cloud Manager UI for your program, or check the release notes referenced in your AEM Cloud Service environment. The version information is typically visible in the Environments page or release documentation.
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 2023.8.0 for Cloud Service deployments.
  4. Verify version against CVE threshold
    Compare your confirmed version number to the affected ranges: AEM on-premise versions below 6.5.18.0, or AEM Cloud Service versions below 2023.8.0.
    Affected if Your AEM version falls within the affected range and is vulnerable to reflected XSS via URL parameters.

If your AEM installation is on-premise and the version is below 6.5.18.0, or if it is AEM Cloud Service below version 2023.8.0, then your environment is affected by this reflected XSS vulnerability.

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 6.5.18.0 / 2023.8.0 or later
Fixed in 6.5.18.02023.8.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch to upgrade AEM beyond version 6.5.17, or implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to filter malicious URL parameters containing script tags.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.18.0+ (on-premise) or AEM Cloud Service 2023.8.0+

  1. 1. Back up the current AEM instance and verify data integrity before proceeding
  2. 2. Schedule the upgrade during a planned maintenance window to minimize business impact
  3. 3. For AEM on-premise/managed services: Download Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.18.0 or later from the Adobe Distribution Software Artifact (DS) portal
  4. 4. For AEM Cloud Service: The fix is included in release 2023.8.0 or later; ensure your Cloud Service environment is updated through the Adobe Cloud Manager
  5. 5. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first, verifying that all custom workflows, integrations, and third-party plugins are compatible
  6. 6. Execute the upgrade following Adobe's official documentation for your deployment type
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify the vulnerability is remediated by confirming the fixed version is running
  8. 8. Perform regression testing on critical user workflows to ensure no functionality was broken
Caveat Review Adobe's 6.5.18 release notes for any compatibility notes; custom code relying on deprecated APIs may require adjustments

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

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2023-38215 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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