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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36221

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 · moderate confidence

Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.20 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into form fields. The malicious payload persists on the server and executes in victims' browsers when they view pages containing the compromised form fields.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later to obtain the security patch. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on form fields, and consider Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as a defense-in-depth measure.

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 Adobe Experience Manager version
    Navigate to the AEM Welcome page or check the com.adobe.version file in the crx-quickstart folder. On the AEM welcome page, look for the version information typically displayed in the 'Version' field, or examine the version file in the installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is 6.5.20 or earlier, or falls below version 2024.5.
  2. Identify form field usage in AEM components
    Review the AEM component list under /libs/foundation/components or custom components in /apps that include form elements such as text fields, textareas, or form containers. Check the component definitions for any form-related xtype or resourceType configurations.
    Affected if Form components are present and user-submitted data can be stored in AEM repositories.
  3. Inspect stored form data in the repository
    Use AEM CRXDE Lite (accessible at /crx/de) or query the repository for nodes under /content that contain form field data. Look for nodes with names like form, formfields, or specific component paths where user input is saved.
    Affected if Stored form data exists in the repository without proper sanitization or encoding.
  4. Review form field input validation configuration
    Examine the form component's XML configuration or dialog definition (typically in .xml files under /apps or /libs for the form component) to determine if input validation rules are defined and whether output encoding is applied when form data is rendered.
    Affected if The form fields lack server-side input validation or output encoding is not configured.

You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.21 or 2024.5, and your forms store user input that is rendered without proper sanitization.

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 Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later to obtain the security patch. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on form fields, and consider Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.21 or AEM 2024.5 (for AEM as a Cloud Service)

  1. 1. Review the Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 release notes and 2024.5 release notes for any changes relevant to your implementation.
  2. 2. Create a backup of your current AEM instance and content repository.
  3. 3. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first.
  4. 4. Apply the upgrade to AEM 6.5.21 or later (or AEM as a Cloud Service 2024.5 or later).
  5. 5. Validate that custom form components properly encode output to prevent regression of XSS protections.
Caveat Review release notes for potential compatibility issues with custom components or integrations 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
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,648.

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-2024-36221 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