CVE-2024-36163
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 6.5.20 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 confidenceAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability where malicious JavaScript can be injected into form fields. The malicious payload is persisted in the system and executes in victim browsers when they view pages containing the affected fields.
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< 6.5.21< 2024.5CVSS 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.
-
Check the installed AEM versionLocate the AEM version information in the Adobe Experience Manager welcome page or via the system console (/system/console/bundles). Compare the version number to the affected ranges: any version < 6.5.21 or any version < 2024.5 is potentially vulnerable.Affected if The installed version is 6.5.20 or earlier, or falls below 2024.5 for the newer release track.
-
Identify form fields that accept user inputReview the AEM Forms implementation and identify all form components that persist user-submitted data to the repository, including Adaptive Forms, Foundation Forms, or custom form components.Affected if Form fields exist that accept and store user input without immediate validation.
-
Test for stored XSS in form input fieldsSubmit a benign XSS payload such as <script>alert(1)</script> into a form field and save the form. Then navigate to a page that renders the stored value, or access the stored data through the AEM content repository.Affected if The submitted script payload is rendered unescaped in the browser when viewing pages that display the stored form data.
-
Verify output encoding on rendered form fieldsInspect the HTML source of pages displaying form field values. Check whether special characters like <, >, and & are encoded to their HTML entities (for example, < becomes <).Affected if Form field values are rendered as raw HTML without entity encoding, allowing script execution.
You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.21 (or below 2024.5 for newer releases) AND your form fields store and render user input without proper output encoding.
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 · scoped6.5.212024.5
Upgrade to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.21 or later, which contains the vendor patch. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding on all form fields to prevent script injection.
AEM 6.5.21 (for 6.5.x line) or 2024.5 (for AEM as a Cloud Service)
- Identify your current Adobe Experience Manager version by checking the AEM welcome page or system console
- For AEM 6.5.x line: Upgrade to version 6.5.21 or later
- For AEM as a Cloud Service: Upgrade to version 2024.5 or later
- After upgrading, verify the patch is applied by checking the AEM version in the system console
- Test the fix by attempting to submit potentially malicious scripts in form fields to confirm they are properly sanitized
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36163 — 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-2024-36163 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
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.
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.
- 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