CVE‑2025‑54253 & CVE‑2025‑54254 in Adobe Experience Manager Forms – What You Must Know

Description of CVEs 2025‑54253 and 2025‑54254

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms on Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) has suffered two critical vulnerabilities CVE‑2025‑54253 and CVE‑2025‑54254 disclosed in early August 2025. According to Adobe, both flaws carry public proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits, though there are no known in-the-wild attacks as of today.

• CVE‑2025‑54253: A configuration-specific flaw that allows arbitrary code execution on AEM Forms. It’s rated critical with a CVSS score of 8.6.
• CVE‑2025‑54254: An XXE (XML External Entity) issue that enables file system disclosure. It boasts the maximum critical CVSS score of 10.0.

Exploit Methods

CVE‑2025‑54253 – Misconfiguration leading to code execution:
Attackers can leverage incorrectly configured AEM Forms setups—possibly insecure endpoints or permissive templates—to inject and execute malicious Java or scripting commands remotely. A typical attack chain might look like:

xmlCopyEdit<!-- Example payload snippet exploiting misconfigured template -->
<request>
  <payload><![CDATA[
    ${'jcr:root'/jcr:content/snippet}
    <script>…malicious code…</script>
  ]]></payload>
</request>

In poorly sandboxed contexts, such a payload gains direct access to server-side execution contexts.

CVE‑2025‑54254 – XXE vulnerability:
By supplying crafted XML input with external entity declarations, an attacker might read arbitrary files. Consider this malicious payload:

xmlCopyEdit<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">
]>
<request>
  <data>&xxe;</data>
</request>

If parsed insecurely, the &xxe; construct could leak sensitive data such as passwd contents.

Crucially, PoCs for both flaws are publicly available, meaning any exposed AEM Forms instance is vulnerable to rapid automated attack.

Potential Risk of CVE-2025-54253 and CVE-2025-54254

• CVE‑2025‑54253 permits remote, unauthenticated arbitrary code execution when AEM Forms is misconfigured—posing serious threats to system integrity and confidentiality.
• CVE‑2025‑54254 enables unauthorized file read, potentially exposing sensitive server-side data (API keys, configs, credentials).

Together, these gaps can lead to full system compromise. The IONIX research team rates both as critical, urging immediate prioritization.

Mitigation

Immediate Steps:

• Apply Hotfixes: Adobe has released emergency patches. All AEM Forms on JEE deployments must be updated immediately.
• Restrict Access: In standalone or internally exposed deployments, restrict network access to AEM Forms endpoints—use IP whitelisting or VPN-only access until patches are in place.

Configuration:

After updating, ensure default or custom OSGI configurations are hardened:

bashCopyEdit; Example - disable external entity resolution in Sling post-processing
org.apache.sling.commons.xml.internal.parser.SAXParserFactory.@factory.allowedProtocols=false
org.apache.sling.commons.xml.internal.parser.SAXParserFactory.@factory.resolveExternalEntities=false

Monitoring:

Enable auditing/logging to detect anomalous XML processing/file access events. While no in-the-wild exploitation has been reported, the public PoCs significantly raise attack likelihood.

---

Am I Impacted?

The IONIX research team confirms:

AEM Forms users are strongly advised to review deployment and apply patches immediately—ongoing exploitation attempts are monitored, and mitigation is urgent.

Thus, if you run AEM Forms version 6.5.23 or earlier, you’re at risk unless patched. Even if your setup is behind a firewall, the presence of public PoCs means any exposure—even indirect—could be exploited.

References

• Adobe out-of-band hotfix advisory for CVE‑2025‑54253 & CVE‑2025‑54254
• Bleeping Computer Summary of vulnerabilities and fix details
• IONIX research annotations on AEM Forms misconfiguration and threat urgency