Vulnerabilities in pkg:maven/com.liferay.portal/com.liferay.portal.kernel

PACKAGE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8
Share
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-7961 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability (CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data) affecting Com.liferay.portal.kernel libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves deserialization of untrusted data in liferay portal. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.35.3.

6 Known Advisory Record(s)
Package Vulnerability Intelligence

pkg:maven/com.liferay.portal/com.liferay.portal.kernel

6 Known Advisory Record(s)

Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:maven/com.liferay.portal/com.liferay.portal.kernel. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.

Advisory ID CVE / NVD Severity Summary
GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 CVE-2020-7961 CRITICAL Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal
GHSA-vp64-77c6-33h8 CVE-2025-43792 LOW Liferay Portal has External Control of System or Configuration Settings
GHSA-xvgg-9h29-4g34 CVE-2025-43793 MODERATE Liferay Portal has Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input
GHSA-h4m4-xp33-37mj CVE-2025-43770 MODERATE Liferay Portal vulnerable to Reflected XSS with the referer and forward parameter
GHSA-mf3r-6m25-3867 CVE-2025-3526 HIGH Liferay Portal SessionClicks does not restrict the saving of request parameters in the HTTP session
GHSA-43h9-p3j4-39hm CVE-2024-25607 HIGH Liferay Portal defaults to a low work factor for the default password hashing algorithm

CVE-2020-7961 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-7961
GHSA Identifier GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Affected Product Com.liferay.portal.kernel
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2020-7961

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Com.liferay.portal.kernel dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel fixed: 4.35.3 
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.liferay.portal</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.liferay.portal.kernel</artifactId>
    <version>4.35.3</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.liferay.portal

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2020-7961, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.liferay.portal

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Com.liferay.portal.kernel in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.35.3), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.liferay.portal command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data, where the product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. In Com.liferay.portal.kernel, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).

CVE-2020-7961 Affected Com.liferay.portal.kernel Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.35.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel
maven/com.liferay.portal/com.liferay.portal.kernel
Maven
< 4.35.3
4.35.3

References

NVD — CVE-2020-7961 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-7961
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal/blob/7.2.1-ga2/portal-kernel/bnd.bnd
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Security Information SECURITY
https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Security Information SECURITY
https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271
research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-lever... WEB
https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vul... WEB
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-7961
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Security Information SECURITY
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html
Com.liferay.portal.kernel Security Information SECURITY
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-7961?
CVE-2020-7961 is a security vulnerability in Com.liferay.portal.kernel involving Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.
Which Com.liferay.portal.kernel versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.35.3 across affected packages: com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel.
What version fixes CVE-2020-7961?
Upgrading to 4.35.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is com.liferay.portal.kernel affected?
Yes, com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel is affected in releases prior to 4.35.3. Upgrade your dependency to 4.35.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-7961?
CVE-2020-7961 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2020-7961?
CVE-2020-7961 is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data (The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2020-7961?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.liferay.portal'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8",
  "modified" : "2025-10-22T17:48:54Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-24T17:12:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-7961" ],
  "summary" : "Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal",
  "details" : "Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:A"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.35.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-7961"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/liferay/liferay-portal/blob/7.2.1-ga2/portal-kernel/bnd.bnd"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-7961"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-502" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-06-23T06:57:17Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2020-03-20T19:15:00Z"
  }
}