CVE-2020-7961
Liferay Portal Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 3 May 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
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).
- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 99.91% probability · 100th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 16 April 2020
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 November 2021 · due 3 May 2022
- Weakness
- CWE-502
- Affected
- liferay/liferay portal
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 99.9% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-7961
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilitiesBroken Link, Vendor Advisory
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271Broken Link, Vendor Advisory
- https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilitiesBroken Link, Vendor Advisory
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271Broken Link, Vendor Advisory
- https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-7961US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.