CVE-2025-43738
📋 TL;DR
A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Liferay Portal and DXP allows authenticated remote users to inject malicious JavaScript via a specific parameter. This affects users with authenticated access to vulnerable Liferay instances, potentially compromising other users' sessions or data.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal session cookies, perform actions as other users, deface pages, or redirect to malicious sites, leading to account takeover or data theft.
Likely Case
Attackers craft malicious links to steal session tokens from authenticated users who click them, enabling privilege escalation or data access.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, the risk is reduced to minimal, though the vulnerability still exists in unpatched systems.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access and user interaction (e.g., clicking a malicious link).
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Liferay Portal 7.4.3.133 or later; Liferay DXP 2025.Q2.9, 2025.Q1.16, 2024.Q4.8, 2024.Q3.14, 2024.Q2.14, 2024.Q1.20 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43738
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download the latest patch from Liferay's official portal. 2. Apply the patch according to Liferay's patching guide. 3. Verify the fix by checking the version and testing the vulnerable parameter.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation and Output Encoding
allImplement server-side input validation and output encoding for the _com_liferay_expando_web_portlet_ExpandoPortlet_displayType parameter to sanitize user input.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement a web application firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules to block malicious requests.
- Restrict access to the ExpandoPortlet to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious activity.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by injecting a script payload into the _com_liferay_expando_web_portlet_ExpandoPortlet_displayType parameter and checking if it executes in the response.Check Version:
Check the Liferay version via the control panel or by inspecting the server logs for version information.Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, repeat the test with the same payload; it should be sanitized and not execute.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Log entries showing malicious script injections in the _com_liferay_expando_web_portlet_ExpandoPortlet_displayType parameter
- Unusual access patterns to the ExpandoPortlet
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript code in the vulnerable parameter
SIEM Query:
Example: source="liferay_logs" AND (parameter="_com_liferay_expando_web_portlet_ExpandoPortlet_displayType" AND (content="<script>" OR content="javascript:"))