CVE-2025-43830
📋 TL;DR
A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Liferay Portal and DXP allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into forms with rich text fields. When users view or interact with these compromised forms, the scripts execute in their browsers, potentially stealing session cookies, redirecting users, or performing actions on their behalf. This affects Liferay Portal 7.3.2-7.4.3.111 and multiple DXP versions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Liferay Portal
- Liferay DXP
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers steal administrator session cookies, gain full administrative access to the portal, exfiltrate sensitive user data, or deploy ransomware/malware to users' browsers.
Likely Case
Attackers steal user session cookies to hijack accounts, redirect users to phishing sites, or perform unauthorized actions within the portal.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized, preventing execution while maintaining form functionality.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires ability to submit forms with rich text fields; exploitation depends on user interaction with compromised forms.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Portal: 7.4.3.112+; DXP: 2023.Q4.6+, 2023.Q3.9+, 7.4 update 93+, 7.3 update 36+
Vendor Advisory: https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43830
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download appropriate patch from Liferay customer portal. 2. Apply patch using Liferay's patching tool. 3. Verify patch application in Control Panel > Server Administration > Patches.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Rich Text Fields
allTemporarily disable or replace rich text fields with standard text fields in forms to prevent payload injection.
Content Security Policy (CSP)
allImplement strict CSP headers to block inline script execution and restrict script sources.
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: script-src 'self';' to web server configuration
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads in form submissions.
- Enable input validation and output encoding for all form fields at application level.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Liferay version in Control Panel > Server Administration > Properties; verify against affected version ranges.Check Version:
Check liferay.home/portal-ext.properties or Control Panel interfaceVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, verify version shows patched version in Control Panel and test form submissions with XSS payloads in rich text fields.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual form submissions with script tags or JavaScript in rich text fields
- Multiple failed XSS attempts in web server logs
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing <script> tags in form parameters
- Unexpected external script loads from form submissions
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (form_data CONTAINS "<script>" OR form_data CONTAINS "javascript:")