CVE-2025-46971
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 form fields, which persists in the system. When users view pages containing these compromised fields, the malicious script executes in their browsers, potentially allowing session hijacking or credential theft.
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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Determine installed AEM versionAccess the AEM System Overview page at /system/console/status-productinfo or check the version.properties file in the crx-quickstart directory. The version is displayed as 'Adobe Experience Manager, Version X.X.X'Affected if The version shown is below 6.5.23.0 or below 2025.5.0
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Identify accessible form componentsReview the AEM Forms workflow configurations at /libs/fd/fm/config or check which form components are enabled in the Design mode of template editors. Look for any custom or out-of-the-box Adaptive Forms, Core Components forms, or Foundation Form components.Affected if Form components are available to users with low-privileged accounts (such as 'users' or 'content-authors' group members)
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Inspect form data in the repositoryUse CRX/DE Lite (accessible at /crx/de/index.jsp) to navigate to form submission storage paths, typically under /content/forms/af or /content/dam/formsanddocuments. Review stored field values for any HTML script tags, javascript: URIs, or event handler attributes.Affected if Any form field entries contain <script> tags, javascript: prefixes, onload/onerror/onclick attributes, or other XSS payloads
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Check for XSS payloads in DAM assetsNavigate to /crx/de/index.jsp and search for content nodes under /content/dam containing suspicious patterns using the Query tool. Search for entries containing common XSS vectors like '<img src=x', '<svg onload', 'alert(', or 'javascript:'.Affected if Any stored content nodes contain executable JavaScript or HTML that could be rendered in a browser
You are affected if your AEM version is below 6.5.23.0 or below 2025.5.0 AND low-privileged users have access to form authoring AND malicious scripts are present in form field data stored in the repository.
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. Alternatively, implement output encoding and input validation on all form fields to neutralize malicious script content before storage and display.
AEM 6.5.23.0 (for 6.5.x branches) or AEM 2025.5.0 (for cloud-ready/on-prem releases)
- Verify current AEM version by navigating to /system/console/configMgr and checking the com.day.commons.http.patch system information, or by accessing the Help menu > Version Information
- Review the AEM 6.5.23.0 or 2025.5.0 release notes for breaking changes and known issues at helpx.adobe.com
- Create a full backup of the AEM repository (crx-quickstart) and database before upgrading
- Test the upgrade in a staging environment before deploying to production
- Stop the AEM instance and run the upgrade installer for the target version (6.5.23.0 or 2025.5.0)
- After upgrade, verify that all custom code and third-party integrations are functional
- Clear browser caches and test the vulnerable form fields to confirm the XSS fix is working
- Deploy to production once staging validation is complete
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-46971 — 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-2025-46971 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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