CVE-2025-43820
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Liferay Portal and DXP calendar widgets. Attackers can inject malicious scripts into user name fields when inviting users to events, potentially compromising user sessions. Organizations running affected Liferay versions are vulnerable.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal administrator credentials, hijack user sessions, deface the portal, or redirect users to malicious sites, potentially leading to full system compromise.
Likely Case
Attackers steal user session cookies or credentials, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, or deliver malware through the compromised portal.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, the impact is limited to unsuccessful injection attempts that are blocked by security controls.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires ability to inject into user name fields during event invitations. Attackers typically need some level of access to create or modify events.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Liferay Portal 7.4.3.111+, Liferay DXP 2023.Q4.5+, 2023.Q3.7+, 7.4 update 93+, 7.3 update 36+
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43820
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download the latest patch from Liferay's customer portal. 2. Apply the patch using Liferay's patching tool. 3. Verify the patch was applied successfully. 4. Test calendar widget functionality.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement server-side input validation to sanitize user name fields in calendar invitations
Implement custom validation hook in Liferay's UserLocalService or CalendarBookingLocalService
Output Encoding
allApply proper HTML encoding to user name fields when displayed in calendar widgets
Modify JSP/FreeMarker templates to use Liferay's HtmlUtil.escape() or similar encoding
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable calendar widget functionality for untrusted users
- Implement WAF rules to block XSS patterns in user name parameters
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Liferay version via Control Panel > Server Administration > Properties. Compare against affected versions list.Check Version:
Check liferay.home/portal-ext.properties or Control Panel version displayVerify Fix Applied:
Test calendar invitation functionality with XSS payloads in name fields. Verify scripts are not executed.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual script tags or JavaScript in user name fields in audit logs
- Multiple failed XSS attempts in security logs
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with script payloads in name parameters to calendar endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="liferay-logs" AND ("calendar" OR "invite") AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=")