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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36181

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 DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the context of the victim's browser session. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction, typically in the form of convincing a victim to visit a maliciously crafted web page or to interact with a maliciously modified DOM element within the application.

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 DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability where malicious input can be injected into the DOM and executed in a victim's browser context. The vulnerability requires user interaction, such as tricking a victim into visiting a crafted URL or interacting with a maliciously modified DOM element within the application.

MitigationApply the vendor patch (upgrade to AEM 6.5.21 or later) and implement Content Security Policy headers to mitigate XSS execution. Additionally, review and sanitize any user-supplied input that gets reflected into the DOM.

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. Identify AEM version
    Access the AEM welcome page or check the productinfo endpoint at /libs/cq/core/content/platform.html, or look for version.info in the system console at /system/console/bundles
    Affected if The version displayed is 6.5.20 or earlier, or between 6.5.0 and 2024.4, indicating it falls below the patched releases of 6.5.21 or 2024.5
  2. Verify AEM 6.5.x release line
    If running AEM 6.5.x, compare the exact minor version shown in the version information against the affected range ending at 6.5.20
    Affected if The installed 6.5.x version is 6.5.20 or any earlier 6.5.x release
  3. Verify AEM as a Cloud Service release
    If running AEM as a Cloud Service, check the release version number shown in the system console or release notes
    Affected if The Cloud Service version is earlier than the 2024.5 release (for example, 2024.1 through 2024.4)
  4. Inspect Content Security Policy headers
    Use browser developer tools or a curl command to inspect the HTTP response headers from the AEM instance for Content-Security-Policy directives
    Affected if No CSP headers are present, or CSP headers allow unsafe-inline scripts, which would permit DOM XSS execution if the vulnerable code path exists

A user is affected if their AEM installation shows version 6.5.20 or earlier for the 6.5.x line, or any version before 2024.5 for the Cloud Service release, and the application lacks proper CSP protection.

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

Apply the vendor patch (upgrade to AEM 6.5.21 or later) and implement Content Security Policy headers to mitigate XSS execution. Additionally, review and sanitize any user-supplied input that gets reflected into the DOM.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.21 (for 6.5.x branches) or AEM as a Cloud Service 2024.5

  1. Back up the current Adobe Experience Manager instance and all content repositories
  2. Review Adobe's official upgrade documentation for AEM 6.5.21 or for AEM as a Cloud Service 2024.5
  3. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment to ensure compatibility with custom code and configurations
  4. Upgrade AEM 6.5.x installations to version 6.5.21 or later
  5. Upgrade AEM as a Cloud Service to version 2024.5 or later
  6. Verify the DOM-based XSS vulnerability is resolved by testing the previously vulnerable vectors
  7. Deploy the upgraded version to production after validation
Caveat Review AEM 6.5.21 release notes for any compatibility changes; standard upgrade testing recommended

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

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-36181 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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