Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2024-52851

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.5.22.0 / 2024.11.0 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 6.5.21 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 confidence

Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.21 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability where attackers can inject malicious JavaScript into form fields. The malicious payload persists in the system and executes in victim browsers when they view pages containing the compromised fields, enabling session hijacking, data theft, or other client-side attacks.

MitigationUpgrade to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.22 or later to obtain the patch. Additionally, implement output encoding and input validation on vulnerable form fields as a defense-in-depth measure until the patch is applied.

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:< 6.5.22.0< 2024.11.0

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 the installed Adobe Experience Manager version
    Navigate to the AEM Welcome page or access the system information via the Help menu, or query the version endpoint at /system/console/status-productinfo. Identify the exact version number displayed.
    Affected if The version is below 6.5.22.0 or below 2024.11.0, placing the instance within the affected range.
  2. Identify exposed form components in the system
    Review the AEM Forms or Core Components implementations in your instance. Check for form-based pages, adaptive forms, or custom form containers that accept user input and render it back to other users. List all content pages or templates that utilize form input fields.
    Affected if Form components that accept and persist user input are publicly or internally accessible without additional security controls.
  3. Inspect stored form data for suspicious payloads
    Query the AEM content repository (via CRXDE Lite or the Query tool) for any stored form submissions or user-generated content containing script tags, javascript: URIs, or event handler attributes within form field values. Search nodes under /content or /var for patterns like '<script', 'onerror=', 'onload=', 'javascript:'.
    Affected if Any persisted form entries contain malicious script tags or event handler attributes that could execute in a victim's browser.
  4. Review recent audit logs for XSS exploitation attempts
    Access the AEM Audit Log at /var/audit or through the Operations dashboard. Search for entries related to form submissions or content modification that contain XSS patterns or unusual script injection attempts around the time of the CVE disclosure.

Your environment is affected if the installed AEM version is below 6.5.22.0 or below 2024.11.0 and the system exposes form fields that accept and display user input without 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 6.5.22.0 / 2024.11.0 or later
Fixed in 6.5.22.02024.11.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.22 or later to obtain the patch. Additionally, implement output encoding and input validation on vulnerable form fields as a defense-in-depth measure until the patch is applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

AEM 6.5.22.0 (on-premise) or AEM Cloud Service 2024.11.0

  1. 1. Back up the current Adobe Experience Manager instance and all content repositories before proceeding with the upgrade.
  2. 2. Review the Adobe Experience Manager upgrade documentation for your current version to understand the migration path.
  3. 3. Download Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.22.0 or later from the Adobe distribution center (for on-premise deployments), or ensure your Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service is provisioned with version 2024.11.0 or later.
  4. 4. Execute the upgrade following Adobe's documented upgrade procedures, which typically include: stopping the current instance, replacing the AEM jar files, running migration tasks, and validating content.
  5. 5. After upgrade completion, verify that the stored XSS vulnerability is resolved by testing form field inputs with typical XSS payloads.
  6. 6. Confirm that all custom code and third-party integrations remain functional post-upgrade.
Caveat Review Adobe's 6.5.22 release notes for any compatibility changes; some custom components or older APIs may require updates

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

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
Get the upgrade done

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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-2024-52851 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