Full Report
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Wednesday added a critical security flaw impacting Adobe Experience Manager to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-54253 (CVSS score: 10.0), a maximum-severity misconfiguration bug that could result in arbitrary code execution.
Analysis Summary
# Vulnerability: Critical Remote Code Execution in Adobe Experience Manager via OGNL Injection
## CVE Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2025-54253
- CVSS Score: 10.0 (Critical)
- CWE: Misconfiguration
## Affected Systems
- Products: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms on JEE
- Versions: 6.5.23.0 and earlier
- Configurations: Affects the exposed `/adminui/debug` servlet.
## Vulnerability Description
This critical flaw is a pre-authentication Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability stemming from a misconfiguration. The vulnerability resides in the exposed `/adminui/debug` servlet, which dangerously evaluates user-supplied OGNL (Object-Graph Navigation Language) expressions as executable Java code. This process occurs without requiring authentication or performing necessary input validation, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary system commands with a single crafted HTTP request.
## Exploitation
- Status: Exploited in the wild (CISA KEV catalog inclusion)
- Complexity: Estimated Low (Due to unauthenticated RCE potential)
- Attack Vector: Network
## Impact
- Confidentiality: High (Implied by RCE capability leading to data access)
- Integrity: High (Ability to execute arbitrary commands risks system alteration)
- Availability: High (Ability to execute arbitrary commands risks system disruption)
## Remediation
### Patches
- Adobe addressed this flaw in version **6.5.0-0108** (released early August 2025) and later.
### Workarounds
- No specific workarounds were detailed in the provided summary, beyond applying the patch. Given the severity and active exploitation, immediate patching is the recommended action.
## Detection
- **Indicators of compromise:** Initial reports mention active exploitation but do not detail specific IOCs within the summary. Look for unusual network connections or system command executions originating from Adobe AEM server processes not initiated by authorized administrators.
- **Detection methods and tools:** Monitor web application traffic targeting AEM endpoints, specifically requests to the `/adminui/debug` path, for payloads indicative of OGNL injection attempts.
## References
- [CISA KEV Catalog Entry (For reference context)](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/10/15/cisa-adds-one-known-exploited-vulnerability-catalog)
- [Adobe Security Bulletin for CVE-2025-54253 (apsb25-82)](helpx.adobe.com/security/products/aem-forms/apsb25-82.html)
- [FireCompass Analysis Link (for context)](firecompass.com/cve-2025-54253-pre-auth-rce-adobe-aem-forms-on-jee-critical-ognl-injection/)