CVE-2025-46884 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) versions 6.5.22 and earlier. This vulnerability arises from insufficient input sanitization in certain form fields within the AEM platform, allowing a high-privileged attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code that is persistently stored on the server. When other users, including administrators or content authors, access the affected pages containing these vulnerable form fields, the malicious script executes in their browsers. This can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim, or further exploitation within the victim's browser context. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.8 (medium severity), reflecting that the attack requires network access, low attack complexity, high privileges, and user interaction, with limited impact on confidentiality and integrity and no impact on availability. The vulnerability's scope is changed (S:C), indicating that exploitation can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-79, which is a common and well-understood web application security issue. Given that AEM is widely used by enterprises for content management and digital experience delivery, this vulnerability poses a risk of persistent client-side attacks within trusted administrative or editorial environments.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant, especially for those relying on Adobe Experience Manager for managing corporate websites, intranets, or customer portals. Exploitation could allow attackers with high privileges (such as internal administrators or compromised accounts) to inject malicious scripts that execute in the browsers of other users, potentially leading to data leakage, unauthorized actions, or lateral movement within the organization. This could compromise sensitive business information, customer data, or internal communications. Given the GDPR regulatory environment in Europe, any data breach or unauthorized data access resulting from such an attack could lead to substantial legal and financial penalties. Additionally, organizations in sectors such as finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure that use AEM for digital content delivery may face reputational damage and operational disruptions. The requirement for high privileges and user interaction somewhat limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with many users having elevated access rights.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize the following actions: 1) Apply security updates and patches from Adobe as soon as they become available to address CVE-2025-46884. 2) Conduct a thorough review of user privileges within AEM, enforcing the principle of least privilege to minimize the number of users with high-level access capable of injecting malicious scripts. 3) Implement strict input validation and output encoding on all form fields and user-generated content within AEM to prevent script injection. 4) Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts in browsers accessing AEM-managed content. 5) Monitor logs and audit trails for suspicious activities related to form submissions and administrative actions. 6) Educate users with elevated privileges about the risks of XSS and safe handling of content inputs. 7) Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules tailored to detect and block XSS payloads targeting AEM. 8) Regularly perform security assessments and penetration testing focused on web application vulnerabilities, including stored XSS scenarios.