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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36185

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 Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in form fields where malicious JavaScript can be injected and persists in the system, executing when users view the affected page in their browser.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later, or implement proper input validation and output encoding on vulnerable form fields to prevent script injection.

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 installed AEM version
    Navigate to the AEM Welcome page or check the com.adobe.version file in the crx-quickstart folder. Alternatively, query the system console at /system/console/bundles to find the AEM version information.
    Affected if The installed version is 6.5.20 or earlier, or falls between 6.5.21 and 2024.5 (i.e., < 6.5.21 AND < 2024.5)
  2. Identify if AEM Forms are in use
    Check if Form components or Adaptive Forms are created or enabled in the system by reviewing the content structure under /content/forms or /content/dam/forms for form assets.
    Affected if Form components or AEM Forms exist in the environment and the version is affected
  3. Inspect stored form data for injected scripts
    Review content stored in the JCR (Java Content Repository) under /content or specific form submission paths. Use CRXDE Lite at /crx/de to query for potential script tags in form field data.
    Affected if Form submissions or form field content contains unencoded script tags or JavaScript event handlers
  4. Check for XSS vulnerable pages in form output
    Access published pages containing form fields and view the page source (right-click > View Page Source) to verify if form field values are properly HTML-encoded before rendering.
    Affected if Form field values render raw HTML or JavaScript without encoding when viewing the page

You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.21 or below 2024.5, and your environment uses form fields where malicious scripts could be stored and executed without proper output 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

Update Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later, or implement proper input validation and output encoding on vulnerable form fields to prevent script injection.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 or later (for 6.5.x line); Adobe Experience Manager 2024.5 or later (for 2024.x line)

  1. 1. Identify the current Adobe Experience Manager version in use (check /system/console/systeminfo or the About Adobe Experience Manager page)
  2. 2. If running 6.5.x line: plan upgrade to version 6.5.21 or later
  3. 3. If running 2024.x line: plan upgrade to version 2024.5 or later
  4. 4. Create a full backup of the AEM instance including the repository, configuration, and any custom code
  5. 5. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  6. 6. Perform the upgrade following Adobe's standard upgrade documentation
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version
  8. 8. Test that the stored XSS vulnerability is remediated by attempting to inject script content into form fields

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
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

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-2024-36185 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