CVE-2025-43770
📋 TL;DR
A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Liferay Portal and DXP allows remote unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript via manipulated referer or FORWARD_URL parameters containing null bytes (%00). This affects users of vulnerable Liferay versions who visit specially crafted malicious links.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal session cookies, perform actions as authenticated users, redirect to malicious sites, or deface the portal interface.
Likely Case
Session hijacking, credential theft, or client-side attacks against users who click malicious links.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper input validation and output encoding are implemented, though the vulnerability still exists.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting malicious URLs with %00 in referer or FORWARD_URL parameters.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Liferay Portal 7.4.3.132+, Liferay DXP 2024.Q4.4+, 2024.Q3.14+, 2024.Q2.14+, 2024.Q1.13+, 7.4 update 93+
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43770
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download the appropriate fix pack from Liferay's customer portal. 2. Apply the fix pack according to Liferay's deployment documentation. 3. Verify the patch is applied by checking version numbers.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement a servlet filter or security filter to sanitize referer and FORWARD_URL parameters by removing or encoding null bytes and suspicious characters.
Custom filter implementation required; no single command.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
allConfigure WAF rules to block requests containing %00 in referer or URL parameters.
WAF-specific configuration required.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit script execution.
- Educate users about phishing risks and suspicious links.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by accessing a vulnerable page with a crafted URL containing %00 in referer or FORWARD_URL parameter and checking if script executes.Check Version:
Check Liferay version via Control Panel → Configuration → Server Administration → System Information, or via server logs.Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, repeat the test; script execution should be prevented.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP requests with %00 in referer or URL parameters
- Unusual referer headers containing script tags or JavaScript
Network Indicators:
- HTTP traffic with encoded null bytes in URL parameters
- Requests with suspicious referer values
SIEM Query:
http.referer:*%00* OR url.query:*%00*