Summary
Page Compare Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability
Workarounds
None
References
N/A
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory open an issue in acs-aem-commons.
Credit
This issue was discovered and reported by Black Lantern Security.
Impact
ACS Commons version 5.1.x (and earlier) suffers from a Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in /apps/acs-commons/content/page-compare.html endpoint via the a and b GET parameters. User input submitted via these parameters is not validated or sanitized.
An attacker must provide a link to someone with access to AEM Author, and could potentially exploit this vulnerability to inject malicious JavaScript content into vulnerable form fields and execute it within the context of the victim's browser. The exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in order to be successful.
Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.
CVE-2022-28820 has a CVSS score of 6.1 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (5.2.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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This issue has been resolved in 5.2.0.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2022-28820? CVE-2022-28820 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in com.adobe.acs:acs-aem-commons (maven), affecting versions < 5.2.0. It is fixed in 5.2.0. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- How severe is CVE-2022-28820? CVE-2022-28820 has a CVSS score of 6.1 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of com.adobe.acs:acs-aem-commons are affected by CVE-2022-28820? com.adobe.acs:acs-aem-commons (maven) versions < 5.2.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2022-28820? Yes. CVE-2022-28820 is fixed in 5.2.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2022-28820 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-28820 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2022-28820 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2022-28820? Upgrade
com.adobe.acs:acs-aem-commonsto 5.2.0 or later.