CVE-2025-43781
📋 TL;DR
A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Liferay Portal and DXP allows remote attackers to inject malicious scripts via the search bar portlet URL. This affects Liferay Portal 7.4.3.110-7.4.3.128 and Liferay DXP 2024.Q1.1-2024.Q3.8. Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in victims' browsers when they click crafted links.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers steal session cookies, perform actions as authenticated users, redirect to phishing sites, or install malware via browser exploitation.
Likely Case
Session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement of search results pages for users who click malicious links.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy (CSP) headers in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (clicking malicious link). No authentication needed to trigger vulnerability.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Liferay Portal 7.4.3.129+, Liferay DXP 2024.Q3.9+, 2024.Q2.14+, 2024.Q1.13+
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43781
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Backup your Liferay instance. 2. Download and apply the appropriate patch from Liferay's customer portal. 3. Deploy the patch using Liferay's patching tool. 4. Verify the fix by testing search functionality.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement a servlet filter to sanitize URL parameters containing search queries before processing.
Custom Java filter implementation required - no single command
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict CSP headers to block inline script execution and restrict script sources.
Add to web.xml or server configuration: Content-Security-Policy: script-src 'self'
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable search bar portlet if not essential
- Implement WAF rules to block malicious URL patterns containing script tags
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by entering <script>alert('XSS')</script> in search bar URL parameter and checking if script executes.Check Version:
Check Liferay Control Panel → Configuration → Server Administration → System InformationVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, repeat the XSS test - script should be properly encoded and not execute.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- URLs containing script tags or JavaScript in search parameters
- Unusual search queries with HTML/script content
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with suspicious parameters in search URLs
- Referer headers containing script payloads
SIEM Query:
web.url:*script* AND web.url:*search*