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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-36236

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 Answer: 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, such as convincing a victim to click on a specially crafted link.

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 DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability where malicious JavaScript can be injected via specially crafted URLs. The payload executes client-side through DOM manipulation, allowing arbitrary code execution in the victim's browser context when they click a crafted link.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Experience Manager to a version beyond 6.5.20 (vendor patch), and implement URL parameter validation/sanitization on affected endpoints 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. Identify installed AEM version
    Access the AEM Welcome page or check the version via the system console at /system/console/configMgr, or query the version endpoint if available
    Affected if Version is 6.5.20 or earlier, or the 2024.x version is earlier than 2024.5
  2. Confirm AEM edition and build
    Check the build information in the AEM About page (Help > About Adobe Experience Manager) or via the version.properties file in the installation directory
    Affected if Build version is below 6.5.21 (for 6.5.x line) or below 2024.5 (for newer release line)
  3. Identify exposed web endpoints
    Review web server access logs and AEM request logs for incoming requests that contain URL parameters being reflected in responses without sanitization. Focus on endpoints under /libs/, /apps/, or custom servlet paths
    Affected if URL parameters are reflected directly in HTML responses without encoding or sanitization present in the response headers or body
  4. Check for DOM manipulation patterns
    Examine the client-side JavaScript or the rendered HTML source when supplying test URL parameters (such as ?test=<script>alert(1)</script>) to public-facing AEM pages. Inspect the DOM using browser developer tools to see if parameter values are inserted into the page
    Affected if URL parameter values appear in the DOM unmodified, indicating they are being processed and inserted without proper encoding

AEM installations are affected if they run version 6.5.20 or earlier, or any version prior to 2024.5, AND the vulnerable endpoint handling URL parameters is exposed and processes input without 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 a version beyond 6.5.20 (vendor patch), and implement URL parameter validation/sanitization on affected endpoints as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.21+ or AEM 2024.5+ (depending on which release track you're on)

  1. Backup your current Adobe Experience Manager instance and database
  2. Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.21 or later (for the 6.5.x release track), or to version 2024.5 or later (for the newer release track)
  3. After upgrading, clear the AEM cache and republished content as needed
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the AEM version in the About Adobe Experience Manager console
  5. Test that the DOM-based XSS vulnerability is no longer exploitable by attempting to inject malicious scripts via the affected vectors
Caveat Review Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.21 and 2024.5 release notes for any breaking changes, deprecations, or compatibility considerations 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
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2024-36236 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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