CVE-2023-51459
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 · uneditedAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 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 confidenceAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.18 and earlier are affected by a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. An attacker can inject malicious JavaScript via URL parameters that gets reflected back in the response and executed within the context of a victim's browser when convinced to visit a crafted URL.
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<= 6.5.18.0< 2023.11.0CVSS 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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Check AEM product versionAccess the AEM welcome page or about page (typically at /libs/granite/core/content/login.html or /aem/start.html) and locate the version number displayed in the product information section. Alternatively, check the manifest file in the installation directory or query the version via the AEM Web Console at /system/console/bundles if accessible.Affected if The installed version is 6.5.18.0 or earlier, or falls below version 2023.11.0 (such as 6.5.x versions before 6.5.19 or 2023.x versions before 2023.11.0).
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Verify AEM Web Console accessibilityAttempt to access the AEM Web Console at /system/console and confirm it loads successfully. This console exposes the OSGi framework and various components used by AEM.Affected if The Web Console is accessible without authentication or accessible to the user being assessed, as the vulnerability involves URL parameter reflection.
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Identify exposed endpoints accepting URL parametersReview publicly accessible AEM endpoints that accept URL parameters and return user-supplied values in the response. Look for forms, search functions, or content pages that reflect input back without visible sanitization.Affected if Endpoints that accept URL parameters are exposed and reflect the parameters directly in HTML output without encoding.
You are affected if your AEM installation runs version 6.5.18.0 or earlier, or any version below 2023.11.0, and publicly accessible endpoints that reflect URL parameters are present in your environment.
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 · scoped2023.11.0
Update to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.19 or later to obtain the vendor patch. As a temporary workaround, implement strict URL parameter validation and output encoding on affected endpoints.
6.5.19.0 or later (6.5.x line); 2023.11.0 or later (2023.x line)
- Identify your current Adobe Experience Manager version by checking the AEM welcome page or system console
- Determine which release line you are on (6.5.x or 2023.x)
- For 6.5.x branch: Plan upgrade to version 6.5.19.0 or later
- For 2023.x branch: Plan upgrade to version 2023.11.0 or later
- Review Adobe Experience Manager release notes for the target version to understand any required configuration changes
- Test the upgrade in a non-production environment before deploying to production
- Deploy the upgrade to production following standard AEM deployment procedures
- Verify the fix by testing that the vulnerable endpoint no longer reflects unsanitized input
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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-2023-51459 — 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-2023-51459 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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