dbcve.org
Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36156

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.5.21 / 2024.5 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 6.5.20 and earlier 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 confidence

Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields. When users browse to pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious scripts execute in their browsers, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later to obtain the security patch. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on all form fields as a defense-in-depth measure until the upgrade is completed.

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:< 6.5.21< 2024.5

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. Determine installed AEM version
    Access the AEM Web Console (typically at /system/console/systeminfo or /crx/packmgr/service.jsp) to view the product version information, or use the command line to check the version file in the AEM installation directory
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 6.5.21 or earlier than the 2024.5 release
  2. Identify AEM release lineage
    Confirm whether the installation follows the 6.5.x yearly release train or the 2024.x monthly release train by checking the version string in the AEM About page (Help > About Adobe Experience Manager)
    Affected if The version belongs to either the 6.5.x line before 6.5.21 or the 2024.x line before 2024.5
  3. Audit custom form field components
    Review custom Adaptive Form components, Core Components form fields, or custom HTML form fields in the /apps directory for proper input validation and output encoding implementations
    Affected if Custom form components exist and lack proper input validation or output encoding for user-supplied values
  4. Inspect form field content in the repository
    Query the JCR repository (using CRXDE Lite or a repository query tool) for form field content nodes under /content or /apps that may contain unsanitized user input, particularly in fields that allow rich text or extended character input
    Affected if Form fields accept and store user input without sanitization before rendering

Your environment is affected if AEM is running version 6.5.20 or earlier, or any version before 2024.5, and you have custom or OOTB form fields that store user input without proper encoding.

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 6.5.21 / 2024.5 or later
Fixed in 6.5.212024.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later to obtain the security patch. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on all form fields as a defense-in-depth measure until the upgrade is completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.21 or later; AEM 2024.5 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current Adobe Experience Manager version in use by checking the Product Information page in AEM or the version.properties file
  2. 2. For AEM 6.5.x users: Plan upgrade to version 6.5.21 or later
  3. 3. For AEM 2024.x users: Plan upgrade to version 2024.5 or later
  4. 4. Review the Adobe Experience Manager upgrade documentation for your specific version at helpx.adobe.com
  5. 5. Perform a full backup of the AEM instance including the repository, database, and configurations before upgrading
  6. 6. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  7. 7. Apply the upgrade following Adobe's standard upgrade procedures
  8. 8. After upgrade, verify that the XSS protection filters are functioning correctly in form fields
Caveat Standard AEM upgrade considerations apply - review release notes for deprecation notices and ensure custom code compatibility

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

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation40.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
88.0 hours of engineering $15,280
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $24,448.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36156 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-36156 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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