CVE-2025-46850 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions 6.5.22 and earlier. This vulnerability allows a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code into vulnerable form fields within the AEM interface. When a victim user visits a page containing the compromised form field, the malicious script executes in their browser context. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-79, indicating improper neutralization of input leading to script injection. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium severity), with the vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N, meaning the attack can be performed remotely over the network with low attack complexity, requires low privileges, and user interaction (visiting the page) is necessary. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality and integrity by potentially allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions performed in the victim’s browser session. The scope is changed (S:C), indicating that the vulnerability affects components beyond the initially vulnerable component, potentially impacting multiple users or systems. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches or fixes have been linked yet. The vulnerability arises from insufficient input validation or output encoding in form fields, allowing persistent malicious payloads to be stored and served to other users.

For European organizations using Adobe Experience Manager, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to web application security and user trust. A successful exploit could lead to session hijacking, theft of sensitive data such as authentication tokens or personal information, and unauthorized actions performed on behalf of users. This could result in data breaches, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR violations), reputational damage, and potential financial losses. Since AEM is widely used by enterprises, government agencies, and media companies across Europe for content management and digital experience delivery, the impact could be broad, affecting both internal users and external customers. The requirement for low privileges to exploit means that even less privileged insiders or external attackers with limited access could leverage this vulnerability. The need for user interaction (visiting a malicious page) suggests that social engineering or phishing could be used to increase the attack success rate. The changed scope indicates potential for widespread impact within affected environments. Given the lack of known exploits currently, proactive mitigation is critical to prevent future attacks.

1. Immediate mitigation should include reviewing and restricting access to vulnerable form fields, especially limiting who can submit content that is rendered to other users. 2. Implement strict input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data in AEM forms to neutralize potentially malicious scripts. 3. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts in browsers accessing AEM content. 4. Monitor logs and user activity for unusual form submissions or script injection attempts. 5. Educate users about phishing risks and suspicious links that could trigger malicious script execution. 6. Since no official patch is currently available, consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules targeting known XSS patterns specific to AEM. 7. Plan for rapid deployment of official Adobe patches once released and test updates in staging environments before production rollout. 8. Conduct security code reviews and penetration testing focused on input handling in AEM to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities proactively.