CVE-2025-46883 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 accesses a page containing the compromised form field, the injected script executes in their browser context. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding of user-supplied data, enabling persistent script injection (stored XSS). The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium severity), with an attack vector of network (remote exploitation), low attack complexity, requiring low privileges, and user interaction (victim must visit the malicious page). The scope is changed, indicating that the vulnerability can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. The impact includes limited confidentiality and integrity loss, as malicious scripts can steal session tokens, perform actions on behalf of the user, or manipulate displayed content. Availability is not impacted. No known exploits are currently observed in the wild, and no patches or mitigations are explicitly linked in the provided data. Stored XSS in a widely used enterprise content management system like AEM is significant because it can be leveraged for targeted attacks against users with elevated privileges or access to sensitive content, potentially leading to broader compromise within an organization.

For European organizations using Adobe Experience Manager, this vulnerability poses a risk of client-side attacks that can lead to session hijacking, unauthorized actions, and data leakage. Given AEM's role in managing web content and digital assets, exploitation could allow attackers to manipulate website content, deface pages, or inject malicious payloads that affect customers or internal users. This can damage organizational reputation, lead to regulatory non-compliance (especially under GDPR if personal data is exposed), and facilitate further lateral movement or privilege escalation within the enterprise network. The medium severity score suggests moderate risk, but the potential impact is amplified in sectors relying heavily on AEM for customer-facing portals, such as finance, government, healthcare, and retail. The requirement for user interaction (visiting a malicious page) means phishing or social engineering could be used to trigger the exploit. The vulnerability's persistence (stored XSS) increases the attack window and potential reach.

1. Immediate mitigation should include reviewing and sanitizing all user input fields in AEM forms to ensure proper input validation and output encoding, especially for HTML and JavaScript content. 2. Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts and reduce the impact of XSS attacks. 3. Restrict user privileges to the minimum necessary, limiting who can submit content to vulnerable fields. 4. Monitor web application logs and user activity for unusual input patterns or script injection attempts. 5. Educate users about phishing risks to reduce the likelihood of successful social engineering that triggers the stored XSS. 6. Apply any available patches or security updates from Adobe as soon as they are released. 7. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on web application vulnerabilities, including XSS. 8. Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAF) with rules tuned to detect and block XSS payloads targeting AEM. 9. Review and harden AEM configurations to disable or restrict features that allow arbitrary script injection or content editing by low-privileged users.