CVE-2024-36169
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 in form fields. Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript payloads into vulnerable form inputs, which persist on the server. When legitimate users browse to pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious scripts execute in their browsers, enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.
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.
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Identify installed AEM versionNavigate to the AEM welcome page, select the hamburger menu, and click 'About Adobe Experience Manager'. Alternatively, check the version.properties file in the crx-quickstart folder or access the System Information console at /system/console/systeminfo.Affected if The version shown is 6.5.20 or earlier, or the version falls below 2024.5.
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Locate form components in useSearch the CRX/CRXDE Lite repository (accessible at /crx/de) under /apps for form container components (core form, foundation form, or custom form containers) that are included in your content pages. Check the /content node for pages that include form components.Affected if Form components are present and accessible on published pages or author instances.
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Inspect form field data for malicious payloadsIn CRX/CRXDE Lite, navigate to the /content node and examine nodes containing form field data (such as text fields, textareas, or hidden fields). Look for stored script tags, event handlers (onerror, onload, onclick), or javascript: URIs within field values.Affected if Any form field nodes contain raw script tags, event handler attributes, or encoded/deobfuscated JavaScript payloads.
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Verify form field input validationOpen the HTL/JSP source code for your form components in /apps (for example, core/wcm/components/form/text or custom form field components). Examine whether the component uses server-side input validation or encodes output before rendering.Affected if Form components do not implement server-side validation or output encoding on user-submitted values before rendering.
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Review Content Security Policy headersCheck your Apache HTTP Server or AEM Dispatcher configuration for CSP headers (Content-Security-Policy) and inspect their directives. Also check the org.apache.sling.csp.impl.CSPFilter configuration in the OSGi console at /system/console/configMgr.Affected if No CSP headers are configured, or the CSP allows 'unsafe-inline' for script sources.
Your environment is affected if you are running AEM version 6.5.20 or earlier (or below 2024.5), have form components in use, and either find malicious scripts stored in form fields or lack proper input validation, output encoding, or CSP defenses.
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 Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on form fields, and consider deploying Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as a defense-in-depth measure.
AEM 6.5.21 or later; AEM 2024.5 or later
- 1. Identify your current Adobe Experience Manager version by checking the product version in the AEM About console or system information
- 2. If running AEM 6.5.x and version is below 6.5.21, plan upgrade to AEM 6.5.21 or later
- 3. If running AEM 2024.x and version is below 2024.5, plan upgrade to AEM 2024.5 or the latest 2024 release
- 4. Review Adobe Experience Manager release notes for your target version to understand new features and changes
- 5. Perform upgrade in a non-production environment first to validate compatibility with custom code and integrations
- 6. After successful testing, schedule maintenance window and execute production upgrade
- 7. Verify the upgrade was successful by confirming the new version in AEM About console
- 8. Test critical workflows and forms to ensure stored XSS protections are functioning correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36169 — 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-2024-36169 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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- 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
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