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Adobe Experience Manager | Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') (CWE-611)

Not in CISA KEVCVE-2025-54254CWE-611

Not confirmed exploited. 2 of 8 rule sources name it; Cloudflare blocks by default.

Edge rules
2/8
Our test
No exploit yet
CVSS
8.6
EPSS
70.1% Top 0.6%
Posts, 14d
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Published
2025-08-05
Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.23 and earlier are affected by an Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary file system read. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability… More

Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.23 and earlier are affected by an Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary file system read. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to access sensitive files on the local file system, scope is changed. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.

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Ask about CVE-2025-54254: who's covered, what to patch first, how vendors compare. I cite sources and won't help with attacks.

Workers AI (Llama 3.3). Can be wrong: check the cited source.

Severity, decoded

CVSS 3.1
High · 8.6 / 10

Exploitable over the network, with no privileges and no user interaction, leading to full loss of confidentiality, and the impact can reach components beyond the vulnerable one.

Over the internetNo login neededNo user actionWorks reliablySpreads beyond the appSerious impact
How the score is built8 metrics
  • Attack vectorAn attacker can reach it over the internet; no access to your network needed.
    Network
  • Attack complexityNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
    Low
  • Privileges requiredNo account or login is needed.
    None
  • User interactionNo one has to click or open anything; the attack works on its own.
    None
  • ScopeThe attack can spread beyond the vulnerable component to other parts of the system.
    Changed
  • Confidentiality impactAn attacker can read all data the affected component holds, or the most sensitive parts of it.
    High
  • Integrity impactData cannot be changed by the attacker.
    None
  • Availability impactThe component keeps working normally.
    None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
CISA's assessmentSSVC, from the CVE record
ExploitationNone

CISA has seen no public exploit and no attacks.

AutomatableYes

Attackers can script the attack end to end and hit many targets at once.

Technical impactTotal

A successful attack gives full control over the affected software or all of its data.

Public exploits

None found
0 Metasploit0 Exploit-DB0 Scanner template0 GitHub PoCs

No exploit in Exploit-DB or Metasploit, and no scanner template. That lowers, but doesn't remove, the chance of mass exploitation.

Timeline

  1. 2025-08-05
    CVE published
    CVE List
  2. 2025-08-18
    Cloudflare ships a rule
    Adobe Experience Manager Forms - XSS - CVE:CVE-2025-54254
  3. 2025-12-03
    F5 ships a rule
    Adobe Experience Manager Forms Web Services XXE

Social

2026-10-21: 0 posts2026-10-22: 0 posts2026-10-23: 0 posts2026-10-24: 0 posts2026-10-25: 0 posts2026-10-26: 0 posts2026-10-27: 0 posts2026-10-28: 0 posts2026-10-29: 0 posts2026-10-30: 0 posts2026-10-31: 0 posts2026-11-01: 0 posts2026-11-02: 0 posts2026-11-03: 0 posts

No posts seen yet on X, Bluesky, Mastodon, Hacker News or GitHub.

Vendor statements

Quoted
CloudflareWAF Managed Rules2 quotesBlocks by default

First rule 2025-08-18, 13 days after the CVE was published.

2025-08-18New rule…2197ec51Default: BlockSource
Adobe Experience Manager Forms - XSS - CVE:CVE-2025-54254. Previous action: Log. New action: Block. This is a New Detection
2025-08-18New rule…96f34ce3Default: BlockSource
Adobe Experience Manager Forms - XSS - CVE:CVE-2025-54254 - 2. Previous action: Log. New action: Block. This is a New Detection
AWSAWS WAF Managed RulesNo public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. AWS often describes a vulnerability without naming its CVE (for example "Log4j"). We count only entries that name the CVE, so AWS coverage is understated.

Microsoft AzureFront Door and Application Gateway WAF (DRS)No public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. The rule tables name CVEs but carry no dates, so Azure is left out of every time-to-rule figure.

Google CloudCloud Armor preconfigured WAF rulesNo public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. Google names few CVEs: the release notes start in May 2024 and the rules reference lists CVEs without dates. Its cve-canary rules are opt-in.

FastlyNext-Gen WAF virtual patchesBefore feed history

The CVE predates the oldest entry in this vendor's public feed, so a rule may exist that we cannot see.

F5Attack signatures (Distributed Cloud WAF)1 quoteRule published

First rule 2025-12-03, 120 days after the CVE was published.

2025-12-03New rule200018196Source
Added: signature 200018196 "Adobe Experience Manager Forms Web Services XXE" (Other Application Attacks, risk High), systems: Java Servlets/JSP, Apache. References: CVE-2025-54254.
AkamaiApp & API Protector (Adaptive Security Engine)No public source

This vendor publishes no machine-readable rule changelog we can check.

OWASP CRSCore Rule Set (open source, used inside many WAFs)No public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. CRS rarely names CVEs: it relies on generic detections. Our own lab measures what it actually blocks.