CVE-2025-46878
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 in form fields. A low-privileged attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable form input fields, which persists in the system. When other users view pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious script executes in their browsers, potentially allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.
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 Adobe Experience Manager versionLocate the AEM version by accessing the System Information console at /system/console/bundles or by checking the release.json file in the installation directory. Alternatively, check the product version displayed in the AEM welcome screen under 'Platform Information'.Affected if The installed version is 6.5.22 or earlier, or the version is below 2025.5.0, placing it within the vulnerable range.
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Identify form field components in useReview the AEM instance for custom or third-party form components that accept user input. Check the CRX/DE Lite (accessible at /crx/de) under /apps or /libs for form-related components, particularly those using form fields that may not have output encoding configured.Affected if The instance uses custom form components or older form field implementations that predate the 6.5.23/2025.5.0 security updates.
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Verify low-privileged user access to formsLog in with a low-privilege user account (such as a standard content author or a test user with minimal permissions) and attempt to access form creation or editing interfaces. Check if forms with input fields are accessible to this user role.Affected if Low-privileged users can create or edit form content without elevated permissions, allowing them to inject malicious scripts into form fields.
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Inspect form input storage for unescaped contentIn CRX/DE Lite, navigate to where form submission data is stored (commonly under /content or custom form data repositories). Examine stored values in form fields for any HTML or JavaScript characters that appear unencoded.Affected if Form field data contains raw HTML or script tags stored without proper encoding, indicating the vulnerability may be present.
You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.23.0 or below 2025.5.0, you use form fields accessible to low-privileged users, and those fields do not properly encode stored input for output.
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
Update Adobe Experience Manager to version 6.5.23 or later. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding on all form fields, and consider adding Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS attacks.
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.23.0 or 2025.5.0 (whichever branch applies)
- Back up the current Adobe Experience Manager instance and repository before starting the upgrade process
- Review the Adobe Experience Manager 6.5.23.0 (or 2025.5.0 for cloud) release notes and known issues documentation on helpx.adobe.com
- Test the upgrade in a non-production/staging environment to verify compatibility with custom code and configurations
- Ensure all custom bundles, packages, and third-party integrations are compatible with the target version
- Deploy the upgrade to production following standard AEM deployment procedures
- Verify that the stored 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-2025-46878 — 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-2025-46878 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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- 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
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