CVE-2025-49557 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting multiple versions of Adobe Commerce, specifically versions 2.4.9-alpha1, 2.4.8-p1, 2.4.7-p6, 2.4.6-p11, 2.4.5-p13, 2.4.4-p14, and earlier. This vulnerability allows a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code into vulnerable form fields within the Adobe Commerce application. The injected scripts are stored persistently and executed when a victim user visits the affected page, requiring user interaction (UI:R). The vulnerability has a changed scope (S:C), meaning the impact extends beyond the initially vulnerable component to other parts of the system or users. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 8.7 (high severity), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), low privileges required (PR:L), user interaction required (UI:R), and high impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:H/I:H), but no impact on availability (A:N). Exploitation could lead to privilege escalation within the application or compromise of sensitive user data such as customer information, payment details, or administrative credentials. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the vulnerability's nature and severity make it a significant risk for organizations using affected Adobe Commerce versions. The lack of available patches at the time of reporting increases the urgency for mitigation and monitoring. Stored XSS vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous in e-commerce platforms because they can be leveraged to hijack user sessions, steal cookies, manipulate transactions, or inject further malicious payloads, potentially leading to fraud or data breaches.

For European organizations using Adobe Commerce, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk to both customer data confidentiality and the integrity of their e-commerce operations. Exploitation could result in unauthorized access to sensitive personal and payment information of European customers, leading to violations of GDPR and other data protection regulations, with potential legal and financial penalties. Additionally, attackers could escalate privileges within the Adobe Commerce platform, potentially gaining administrative access to manipulate product listings, pricing, or order fulfillment processes, thereby damaging business reputation and causing financial losses. The requirement for user interaction means phishing or social engineering campaigns could be used to lure victims to malicious pages, increasing the risk of widespread compromise. Given the critical role of e-commerce in European retail and the high volume of transactions processed, the vulnerability could disrupt business continuity and erode customer trust if exploited. Furthermore, the changed scope indicates that the impact could extend beyond individual users to affect broader system components or multiple users, amplifying the potential damage.

European organizations should immediately assess their Adobe Commerce installations to identify if they are running affected versions. Until official patches are released, organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Conduct a thorough code and configuration review to identify and sanitize all user input fields, especially those that accept form data, using strict input validation and output encoding techniques to prevent script injection. 2) Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block typical XSS payloads targeting Adobe Commerce form fields. 3) Restrict user privileges to the minimum necessary, limiting the ability of low-privileged users to input data that could be executed by others. 4) Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts within the application context. 5) Increase monitoring and logging of user inputs and application behavior to detect suspicious activities indicative of exploitation attempts. 6) Educate users and administrators about the risk of phishing and social engineering that could facilitate exploitation via user interaction. 7) Prepare for rapid patch deployment once Adobe releases official fixes, including testing in staging environments to ensure compatibility. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on immediate risk reduction and detection tailored to the specifics of this stored XSS vulnerability in Adobe Commerce.