Adobe has issued emergency security updates to address two critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Experience Manager Forms (AEM Forms) for Java Enterprise Edition. The situation has become particularly concerning as public proof-of-concept exploits are already available for both security flaws, significantly increasing the risk of active exploitation by malicious actors targeting enterprise environments.
Critical Vulnerability Analysis: CVE-2025-54253 and CVE-2025-54254
The discovered vulnerabilities have been assigned identifiers CVE-2025-54253 and CVE-2025-54254, receiving CVSS severity scores of 10.0 and 8.6 respectively. The first vulnerability enables remote code execution capabilities, while the second allows unauthorized file system access through XML External Entity (XXE) injection techniques.
Security researchers from Searchlight Cyber (formerly Assetnote) identified that CVE-2025-54253 represents a sophisticated combination of authentication bypass mechanisms coupled with an improperly enabled Struts development mode within the administrative interface. This dangerous combination creates an attack vector for executing malicious OGNL (Object-Graph Navigation Language) expressions.
Remote Code Execution Attack Vector
According to Searchlight Cyber’s technical analysis, privilege escalation to achieve remote code execution is relatively straightforward due to numerous available sandbox bypass techniques. However, in production environments, attackers may need to circumvent Web Application Firewall (WAF) protections, requiring sophisticated payload crafting within GET request parameters to avoid detection.
The authentication bypass component of this vulnerability is particularly dangerous as it allows unauthenticated attackers to access administrative functions typically reserved for privileged users. When combined with the Struts development mode exposure, this creates a direct pathway for system compromise.
XXE Vulnerability in Authentication Mechanism
CVE-2025-54254 represents a classic XXE (XML External Entity Reference) vulnerability affecting the core authentication processing engine. The security flaw stems from unsafe XML document parsing within AEM Forms’ authentication mechanisms, enabling exploitation without requiring prior system authentication or user credentials.
This vulnerability allows attackers to read sensitive files from the server filesystem, potentially exposing configuration files, user credentials, and other confidential information stored on the target system.
Timeline of Discovery and Coordinated Disclosure
The coordinated vulnerability disclosure process began in April 2025 when Searchlight Cyber researchers notified Adobe of the identified security issues. Notably, the research team simultaneously discovered an additional critical vulnerability – CVE-2025-49533 with a CVSS score of 9.8, related to insecure deserialization of untrusted data, which was patched in July.
Following responsible disclosure practices, the researchers observed the standard 90-day disclosure period before publishing technical details and functional exploits for all three vulnerabilities on July 29th. This timeline demonstrates the importance of coordinated vulnerability disclosure in giving vendors adequate time to develop and distribute security patches.
Expert Assessment and Risk Evaluation
Cybersecurity experts from Searchlight Cyber note that the discovered vulnerabilities are not particularly sophisticated and represent common security issues that should have been identified through routine security assessments. This observation is especially concerning given that the affected product, previously known as LiveCycle, has been deployed in enterprise environments for approximately two decades.
The availability of public exploits significantly accelerates the threat timeline, as malicious actors can now leverage these proof-of-concept codes to develop automated attack tools targeting vulnerable AEM Forms installations across the internet.
Immediate Protection and Mitigation Strategies
As an interim protective measure before applying official security patches, system administrators should implement strict network access controls for AEM Forms deployments and enhance monitoring for suspicious activities. Organizations should prioritize patching based on their exposure levels and implement defense-in-depth strategies.
This security incident underscores the critical importance of maintaining current patch levels for enterprise applications and conducting regular security audits of legacy systems. Organizations utilizing Adobe AEM Forms must immediately apply the released patches and perform comprehensive infrastructure assessments to identify potential compromise indicators. The combination of critical vulnerabilities with publicly available exploits creates an urgent security situation requiring immediate remediation efforts to protect enterprise data and systems.
