Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote…
Priority CRITICAL 100Exploited in the wildCWE-502Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-502.
Summary
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).
Why it matters now
Exploitation Active In CISA KEV since 2021-11-03CISA due date 2022-05-03
EPSS 0.99905 99th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Fixed com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel (Maven): 4.35.3
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Active
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel (Maven) | before 4.35.3 | 4.35.3 | Patch available | GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 4.35.3 Fixed in 4.35.3 Patch available GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel (Maven) Fixed in 4.35.3 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2021-11-03 Added to CISA KEV
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2020-7961
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8
References
Advisory 5
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-7961
Other 4
- https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal
- https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal/blob/7.2.1-ga2/portal-kernel/bnd.bnd
- https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-7961
More Liferay Portal vulnerabilities
- TI-2019-12596 Liferay Portal CE 6.2.5 allows remote command execution because of deserialization of a JSON payload. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2021-13252 Liferay Portal 6.2.5 allows Command=FileUpload&Type=File&CurrentFolder=/ requests when… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-18349 A Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Blog module - add new topic… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.4
- TI-2022-18348 A Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Document and Media module - file upload… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.4
- TI-2022-20404 A SQL injection vulnerability in the Friendly Url module in Liferay Portal 7.3.7, and… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-20402 A SQL injection vulnerability in the Fragment module in Liferay Portal 7.3.3 through… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2020-7961 · CVE Program
- CVE-2020-7961 · NVD
- CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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