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Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2025-46840

HIGH · 8.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.5.23.0 / 2025.5.0 or later.
See remediation →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 6.5.22 and earlier are affected by an Improper Authorization vulnerability that could result in Privilege escalation. A low privileged attacker could leverage this vulnerability to bypass security measures and gain unauthorized access. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction. A successful attacker can abuse this to achieve session takeover, increasing the confidentiality and integrity impact as high.

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 6.5.22 and earlier contain an Improper Authorization vulnerability allowing a low-privileged attacker to bypass security measures through user interaction, enabling unauthorized access and potentially session takeover.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Experience Manager to a version beyond 6.5.22. Review user session management and access control configurations to ensure no unauthorized access paths remain.

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:< 6.5.23.0< 2025.5.0

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/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 Adobe Experience Manager version
    Access the AEM Welcome page or check the manifest file (com.adobe.granite.repository.jar) in the crx-quickstart folder. The version is typically displayed on the Welcome page under 'Adobe Experience Manager' or can be retrieved via the system console (/system/console/bundles) by checking the Granite UI bundle version.
    Affected if The installed version is 6.5.22 or earlier, or any version prior to 2025.5.0 (for cloud/6.5.x hybrid releases).
  2. Confirm the affected authorization module is in use
    Review whether the AEM instance uses standard AEM security with user/group permissions (ACLs). This includes checking if the instance has standard login modules configured in the Apache Jackrabbit Oak login module configuration (in /system/console/configMgr/org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.security.authentication.token.TokenConfiguration).
    Affected if The instance uses default AEM authentication and authorization without external SSO or custom security filters that would bypass the vulnerable code path.
  3. Assess network exposure and user interaction vector
    Determine if the AEM instance is accessible over the network to untrusted users. Since this vulnerability requires user interaction (social engineering or tricking a legitimate user), check if the instance allows access to low-privilege users or external-facing login pages.
    Affected if The instance is network-accessible to low-privileged users or external attackers who could initiate the user interaction required to exploit the authorization bypass.

You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.23.0 (or below 2025.5.0 for newer release trains), the standard authorization module is in use, and the instance is accessible to users who could be tricked into performing actions that trigger the bypass.

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 6.5.23.0 / 2025.5.0 or later
Fixed in 6.5.23.02025.5.0
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Experience Manager to a version beyond 6.5.22. Review user session management and access control configurations to ensure no unauthorized access paths remain.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.23.0 (for on-premise 6.5.x line) or 2025.5.0 (for Cloud Service/2024.x line)

  1. 1. Backup your current Adobe Experience Manager instance and content repository
  2. 2. Review Adobe's upgrade documentation for your target version (6.5.23.0 or 2025.5.0)
  3. 3. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  4. 4. Ensure all custom code and integrations are compatible with the target version
  5. 5. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  6. 6. Perform the upgrade to version 6.5.23.0 (for on-premise 6.5.x) or 2025.5.0 (for Cloud Service)
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade was successful and all services are running
  8. 8. Test critical user workflows to confirm functionality
Caveat AEM upgrades may introduce breaking changes in custom components, workflows, or integrations; thorough testing in non-production is essential before production deployment

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 / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.

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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-2025-46840 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