Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-33949

Liferay Portal 7.0.0 – 7.0.6

Published
24 May 2023
Modified
09 January 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0074 51th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-33949 is a medium-severity Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default (CWE-1188) vulnerability in Liferay Liferay Portal. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Default Accounts (T1078.001); ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In Liferay Portal 7.3.0 and earlier, and Liferay DXP 7.2 and earlier the default configuration does not require users to verify their email address, which allows remote attackers to create accounts using fake email addresses or email addresses which they…

more

don't control. The portal property `company.security.strangers.verify` should be set to true.

CWE(s)
CWE-1188

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1078.001 Default Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a default account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1542.002 Component Firmware Stealth
Adversaries may modify component firmware to persist on systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-25610Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2024-26267Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-43797Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-43799Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-43788Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-62247Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-43773Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-62256Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-43805Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2023-33948Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform

Affected Assets

liferay
digital experience platform
7.0 — 7.2
liferay
liferay portal
7.3.0 · 7.0.0 — 7.0.6 · 7.1.0 — 7.1.3 · 7.2.0 — 7.2.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 13 hardening rules · 7 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V14.3.2
  • V6.3.2
  • V11.3.1
  • V13.2.3

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.

CM-1 Policy and Procedures
addresses: CWE-1188

Requires documented secure initialization practices and avoidance of insecure defaults in configuration baselines.

CM-2 Baseline Configuration
addresses: CWE-1188

Reviewing and updating baseline when components are installed or upgraded prevents initialization with insecure defaults.

CM-7 Least Functionality
addresses: CWE-1188

Requiring explicit configuration to minimal functionality overrides insecure defaults that would otherwise enable excess capabilities.

PL-11 Baseline Tailoring
addresses: CWE-1188

Tailoring replaces or augments insecure default initializations with system-specific values and compensating controls before deployment.

PL-9 Central Management
addresses: CWE-1188

Central configuration overrides or replaces insecure default initializations that would otherwise be left unchanged on each system.

PM-30 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy
addresses: CWE-1188

SCRM practices during acquisition and configuration management address insecure default initializations shipped by vendors.

RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning
addresses: CWE-1188

Scans detect resources initialized with insecure defaults that create exploitable conditions.

SA-16 Developer-provided Training
addresses: CWE-1188

Instruction on secure initialization of security controls prevents leaving resources with insecure defaults after installation.

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-01 full match
prevents

Hardened baselines and configuration management directly replace insecure defaults with secure settings.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices include designing products with secure defaults rather than insecure ones.

ID.RA-09 partial match
prevents

Pre-acquisition integrity checks can reject products known to ship with insecure defaults.

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.

A.8.9 Configuration management mostly match
prevents

Mandating secure baseline templates and immediate replacement of vendor defaults directly stops systems from being deployed with insecure factory settings that attackers can exploit.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Requiring documented specification, testing, and acceptance of changes ensures that new or modified components are not initialized with insecure default settings that would otherwise be left in production.

A.5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain none match
none

Requiring suppliers to document secure configuration and implemented security functions reduces the likelihood that products will be initialised with insecure default settings.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248823 OL 8 must not have the telnet-server package installed. prevents CWE-1188
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204627 SNMP community strings on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be changed from the default. prevents CWE-1188
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-1188
Ubuntu 24.04 (1 rule)
  • V-270708 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-1188
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-224972 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-1188
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205741 Windows Server 2019 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-1188

References