CVE-2024-43736
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 6.5.21 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 6.5.21 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields, which persists in the system. When victims browse to pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious scripts execute in their browsers.
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< 6.5.22.0< 2024.11.0CVSS 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 your Adobe Experience Manager versionAccess the AEM Welcome page at /aem/start.html or check the product version via the system console at /system/console/bundles. Locate the version information typically displayed in the footer of the AEM console or in the about Adobe Experience Manager section (Help > About).Affected if The installed version is any release earlier than 6.5.22.0 or earlier than the 2024.11.0 release for cloud/Service Pack distributions.
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Locate form components that accept user inputReview your AEM instance for any Adaptive Form components, Form Fragments, or custom form implementations. Navigate to the Forms section in AEM Assets or use the Template Editor to list all form containers. Identify which forms allow unauthenticated or low-privilege user submissions.Affected if Your environment hosts forms that collect user input in fields such as text fields, textareas, or comment boxes without server-side validation.
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Inspect form data stored in the repository for malicious scriptsUse the AEM Query Builder or CRX/DE (accessible at /crx/de) to search for XSS payloads in form submission nodes. Run a query searching for common script injection patterns like <script, javascript:, onload=, onerror= within /content/forms or /content/usergenerated paths. Alternatively, export form submission data and grep for script tags.Affected if Any stored form data contains HTML script tags or event handler attributes (onclick, onerror, onload) that could execute in a victim's browser.
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Verify if vulnerable forms are exposed to external usersCheck the publication settings of identified form pages in AEM Sites or author/publish instance configurations. Determine whether the form pages are replicated to the publish tier or exposed via dispatcher. Review the corresponding content paths in the publisher instance.Affected if The identified form fields exist on pages accessible to unauthenticated or low-privilege users on the publish tier or external-facing URLs.
Your environment is affected if you run any AEM version below 6.5.22.0 (or below 2024.11.0 for newer release trains) AND your instance hosts forms that accept user input which can be viewed by other users.
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 · scoped6.5.22.02024.11.0
Upgrade Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.22 or later to obtain the vendor patch. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on affected form fields to prevent XSS injection.
6.5.22.0 (6.5.x line) or 2024.11.0 (2024 cloud line)
- Review the Adobe Experience Manager upgrade documentation at helpx.adobe.com for your current version
- Ensure you have a complete backup of your AEM instance and content repository before starting
- Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
- Download Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.22.0 (for 6.5.x line) or 2024.11.0 (for cloud/2024 line) from the Adobe Software Distribution portal
- Stop the AEM instance running your current version
- Run the upgrade installer for your target version
- After upgrade completes, verify all custom bundles and applications are functioning correctly
- Test the form fields mentioned in your application to confirm the XSS vulnerability is remediated
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-43736 — 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-2024-43736 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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