CVE-2022-30678 is a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions up to and including 6.5.13.0. Reflected XSS occurs when an application includes untrusted user input in a web page without proper validation or escaping, allowing an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the victim's browser context. In this case, the vulnerability is triggered when a victim is tricked into visiting a specially crafted URL referencing a vulnerable page within AEM. The malicious script executes with the privileges of the victim's browser session, potentially allowing theft of session cookies, credentials, or other sensitive information, as well as performing actions on behalf of the victim. Exploitation requires the attacker to have low-privilege access to the AEM instance, which may mean the attacker needs to be an authenticated user with minimal permissions or have access to a publicly accessible vulnerable endpoint. No known public exploits have been reported in the wild, and Adobe has not provided a patch link in the provided data, indicating that remediation may require manual mitigation or awaiting an official update. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79, which is a common and well-understood web application security flaw. Given the nature of AEM as a content management system widely used by enterprises for managing digital content and websites, this vulnerability could be leveraged to compromise user sessions or deface websites if exploited successfully.

For European organizations using Adobe Experience Manager, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the confidentiality and integrity of user sessions and data. Attackers exploiting this reflected XSS could hijack user sessions, steal sensitive information, or manipulate web content, potentially damaging brand reputation and violating data protection regulations such as GDPR. Since AEM is often used by large enterprises, government agencies, and public sector organizations in Europe to manage web content, exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to internal portals or customer-facing applications. The impact is heightened in sectors where trust and data privacy are critical, such as finance, healthcare, and public administration. Additionally, successful exploitation could serve as a foothold for more advanced attacks, including phishing campaigns or lateral movement within a network if combined with other vulnerabilities. However, the requirement for low-privilege access reduces the risk of remote, unauthenticated exploitation, somewhat limiting the attack surface. Still, organizations with publicly accessible AEM instances or weak internal access controls remain vulnerable.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should first verify their AEM version and prioritize upgrading to a patched version once available from Adobe. In the absence of an official patch, organizations should implement strict input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within AEM pages to prevent script injection. Employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules tailored to detect and block reflected XSS payloads targeting AEM can provide an additional layer of defense. Organizations should audit and restrict access controls to AEM instances, ensuring that only authorized users have access, and consider implementing multi-factor authentication to reduce the risk of compromised credentials. Regular security training for users to recognize phishing attempts that might deliver malicious URLs is also recommended. Monitoring web server logs for unusual URL patterns or repeated attempts to exploit XSS can help detect early signs of attack. Finally, organizations should review their Content Security Policy (CSP) configurations to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts in browsers accessing AEM-managed sites.