CVE-2025-43740
📋 TL;DR
A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Liferay Portal and DXP allows authenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript through the message boards feature. This affects multiple versions of Liferay Portal 7.4.3 and Liferay DXP 2024-2025 releases. Successful exploitation could lead to session hijacking, data theft, or unauthorized actions within user sessions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attacker steals administrator session cookies, gains full administrative access to the portal, exfiltrates sensitive user data, and deploys additional malicious payloads.
Likely Case
Authenticated user injects JavaScript that steals other users' session tokens when they view the malicious message board post, leading to account compromise.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized before execution, preventing successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access and knowledge of message board functionality. No public exploit code is currently available.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Liferay Portal 7.4.3.133+, Liferay DXP 2025.Q2.9+, 2025.Q1.16+, 2024.Q4.8+, 2024.Q3.14+, 2024.Q2.14+, 2024.Q1.20+
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43740
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download the appropriate fix pack from Liferay's customer portal. 2. Apply the fix pack following Liferay's deployment documentation. 3. Verify the patch is applied by checking the version number.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Message Boards
allTemporarily disable the message boards feature to prevent exploitation while patching.
Navigate to Control Panel > Configuration > System Settings > Message Boards and disable the feature
Implement Content Security Policy
allAdd a strict Content Security Policy header to mitigate XSS impact.
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'' to web server configuration
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads in message board submissions.
- Restrict message board posting permissions to trusted users only and implement manual content review.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check your Liferay version against affected versions list. If using affected versions and message boards are enabled, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
Check Liferay Control Panel > Server Administration > Properties > liferay.versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify your Liferay version is updated to patched versions listed in fix_official section.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual JavaScript patterns in message board post content
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by message board activity
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections to suspicious domains from user sessions after viewing message boards
SIEM Query:
source="liferay.log" AND (message="*messageboard*" AND (message="*<script>*" OR message="*javascript:*"))