CVE-2025-46861
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 6.5.22 and earlier are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by a low privileged 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 6.5.22 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. A low-privileged attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form fields, which gets stored in the system. When victims browse to pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious script executes 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< 6.5.23.0< 2025.5.0CVSS 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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Check AEM product versionAccess the AEM Web Console (by navigating to /system/console/configMgr or checking the 'About Adobe Experience Manager' section in the AEM welcome page). The version is typically displayed in the AEM Startup log or via the 'Product Version' information in the system console.Affected if The installed version is less than 6.5.23.0 or less than 2025.5.0, meaning the version falls within the vulnerable range.
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Identify custom form componentsReview the AEM component repository (in CRXDE Lite at /apps or /content) for any custom form-related components, particularly those that handle user input such as text fields, textareas, or form containers. Check the JSP/HTL files for whether they use output encoding functions.Affected if Custom form components exist that do not implement proper output encoding (such as escaping HTML entities) when rendering stored values back to the page.
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Verify form field output encodingInspect the HTL/JSP scripts of form components in the codebase. Look for proper use of encoding mechanisms - in AEM HTL, this means ensuring context-aware escaping is used (e.g., ${properties.myField @ context='html'}). In JSP, verify that values are passed through XSS API encodeForHTML functions.Affected if Form field values are rendered without proper encoding, allowing stored malicious scripts to execute in user browsers.
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Review Content Security Policy headersCheck the Apache Sling or Dispatcher configuration (dispatcher.any or .htaccess) for CSP header definitions. Also review the org.apache.sling.security.impl.ContentSecurityPolicyStorageFilter configuration in the OSGi console at /system/console/config.Affected if CSP headers are missing, weak, or allow 'unsafe-inline' scripts, reducing the defense-in-depth protection against stored XSS execution.
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Audit recent form submissions for suspicious contentQuery the AEM repository using CRXDE Lite or the Query Builder API to inspect stored form data in /content or the JCR. Look for patterns containing script tags, javascript: URIs, or event handlers like onload/onerror in text fields.Affected if Form submission data contains unescaped HTML script tags or JavaScript event handlers, indicating the vulnerability has been exploited.
You are affected if your AEM installation version is below 6.5.23.0 or below 2025.5.0 AND you have form components that render user-submitted content without proper output encoding.
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 · scoped6.5.23.02025.5.0
Upgrade to Adobe Experience Manager version 6.5.23 or later. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on all form fields, and configure Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS risks.
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.23.0 or 2025.5.0
- Review Adobe Experience Manager release notes and upgrade documentation for version 6.5.23.0 (or 2025.5.0 for the newer release line)
- Create a full backup of the current AEM instance including repository, database, and configurations
- Test the upgrade in a non-production/staging environment before applying to production
- Apply the upgrade to Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.23.0 or later (or 2025.5.0 or later for the newer release)
- Verify the upgrade was successful and the XSS vulnerability is remediated by testing the affected form fields
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-46861 — 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-2025-46861 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
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