dbcve.org
Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36160

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

Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier contain a stored (persistent) Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability where malicious JavaScript can be injected into form fields. The injected payload is stored in the system and executes in victims' browsers when they view pages containing the compromised form fields.

MitigationUpgrade to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.21 or later. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding for all form fields, and consider deploying 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:< 6.5.21< 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. Check your Adobe Experience Manager version
    Access the AEM Web Console (usually at /system/console/bundles or /system/console/about.html) or check the manifest file in the installation directory to identify the exact AEM version installed
    Affected if The installed version is 6.5.20 or earlier, OR earlier than the 2024.5 release
  2. Determine if AEM Forms or form components are in use
    Review your AEM instance for any active forms, adaptive forms, form workflows, or custom form field components. Check the Forms section in AEM Assets or the forms dashboard at /aem/forms
    Affected if Forms or form-based workflows are configured and accepting user input
  3. Inspect stored form content for injected scripts
    Query the AEM content repository (via CRXDE Lite at /crx/de or the Query tool) for common XSS patterns in form field nodes. Search for script tags, javascript: URIs, event handlers like onload/onerror/onclick, or encoded variants in content nodes under /content or /etc
    Affected if Any form field content contains suspicious script tags, JavaScript URIs, or known XSS payloads
  4. Review recent form submission or workflow history
    Check the AEM Workflow Inbox and form submission logs for any recent entries containing unusual characters or script-related content. Also review any custom form validation or submission handlers
    Affected if Recent form submissions contain unexpected HTML, script tags, or JavaScript code in field values

You are affected if your AEM version is 6.5.20 or earlier (or pre-2024.5) AND you have forms accepting user input where malicious scripts could be stored and rendered to other users.

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 to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.21 or later. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding for all form fields, and consider deploying Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS execution.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.21 or later, or AEM 2024.5 or later (depending on your deployment model)

  1. Review the Adobe Experience Manager upgrade documentation at helpx.adobe.com for your current version
  2. Ensure you have a complete backup of your AEM instance and content repository before proceeding
  3. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  4. For AEM 6.5.x deployments: Upgrade to AEM 6.5.21 or later
  5. For AEM as a Cloud Service deployments: Upgrade to 2024.5 or later
  6. Verify the upgrade was successful by logging into the AEM console
  7. Test the specific form fields mentioned in your application to confirm the XSS vulnerability is remediated
  8. Deploy the upgraded version to production following your organization's change management process
Caveat AEM upgrades may include breaking changes; review release notes for your target version 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36160 — 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-2024-36160 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