# CVE-2022-38653: HCL Digital Experience is susceptible to cross-site scripting (XSS)

> Attackers can inject malicious scripts into HCL Digital Experience, potentially leading to session hijacking or code execution.

- **Severity:** Low 2.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Dec 2022
- **Updated:** 18 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-63gh-hfrq-8rph

## What is CVE-2022-38653?

CVE-2022-38653 is a low-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in HCL Digital Experience, published on 15 Dec 2022. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In HCL Digital Experience, customized XSS payload can be constructed such that it is served in the application unencoded.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-38653?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Hcltech Digital Experience.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-38653?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-38653 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-38653 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-38653 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in HCL Digital Experience

- [CVE-2023-37538](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-37538/): HCL Digital Experience is susceptible to cross site scripting (XSS) (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2026-21837](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21837/): HCL Digital Experience is affected by an OS command injection vulnerability in the Digital Asset Management API (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2020-14255](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14255/): HCL Digital Experience 9.5 containers include vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data to unauthorized parties via crafted requests. (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-21825](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21825/): HCL Digital Experience Compose is affected by a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the search center (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2026-21826](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21826/): HCL Digital Experience and HCL Digital Experience Compose could be susceptible to Host header injection (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-38653 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-38653 is a low-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in HCL Digital Experience, published on 15 Dec 2022. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-38653 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: HCL Digital Experience. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38653/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38653/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-38653
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-38653
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-38653

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38653/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.