CVE-2020-7961
RCE in Liferay Portal ≤ 7.2.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2020-7961 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Liferay Liferay Portal. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 0.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2020-7961 is a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability, tracked under CWE-502, that affects Liferay Portal versions prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2. The flaw resides in the JSON web services (JSONWS) component and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible attack vectors that require no authentication or user interaction.
Unauthenticated remote attackers can supply crafted serialized payloads to the JSONWS endpoints, triggering arbitrary code execution on the server and resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Liferay security advisories list the issue among known vulnerabilities and indicate that the defect is resolved by upgrading to version 7.2.1 CE GA2 or later releases that contain the corresponding patch.
Public exploit code has been published on PacketStorm, and the vulnerability was observed being leveraged in the FreakOut campaign to assemble a botnet from unpatched Liferay instances.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-5527
Vulnerability Data
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).
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 November 2021
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Penetration testing supplies malicious serialized objects, detecting unsafe deserialization and supporting corrective actions.
Evaluation of untrusted data handling (deserialization testing) reveals unsafe processing, which the required remediation process addresses.
Untrusted serialized data can be deserialized and observed inside the chamber, blocking gadget-chain exploitation outside the sandbox.
Validates or rejects untrusted serialized data before deserialization occurs.
Identifies and blocks malicious code introduced through deserialization of untrusted data at system boundaries.
Integrity verification of serialized information can detect tampering before deserialization occurs.
Provenance of associated data allows detection of untrusted sources before deserialization or processing occurs.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.