Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-43813

Path Traversal in Liferay Digital Experience Platform ≤ 7.3

Published
29 September 2025
Modified
11 December 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 6.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0046 38th percentile
Risk Priority 41 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-43813 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Liferay Digital Experience Platform. Its CVSS base score is 6.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 38th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

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-2025-43813 is a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) combined with a denial-of-service condition in the ComboServlet component of Liferay Portal versions 7.4.0 through 7.4.3.107, including older unsupported versions, and Liferay DXP versions 2023.Q4.0 through 2023.Q4.4, 2023.Q3.1 through 2023.Q3.8, 7.4 GA through update 92, 7.3 GA through update 35, and older unsupported versions. Published on 2025-09-29, the issue carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H). It allows remote attackers to access arbitrary CSS and JavaScript (JS) files and load those files multiple times via a specially crafted query string in a URL.

The vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated remote attackers with network access, requiring low attack complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation enables limited unauthorized access to CSS and JS files through path traversal (low confidentiality impact) and repeated loading of files to trigger a denial-of-service condition, resulting in high availability disruption for affected Liferay instances.

Mitigation details are available in the Liferay security advisory at https://liferay.dev/portal/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/jekt/content/CVE-2025-43813.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Possible path traversal vulnerability and denial-of-service in the ComboServlet in Liferay Portal 7.4.0 through 7.4.3.107, and older unsupported versions, and Liferay DXP 2023.Q4.0 through 2023.Q4.4, 2023.Q3.1 through 2023.Q3.8, 7.4 GA through update 92, 7.3 GA through update 35, and older…

more

unsupported versions allows remote attackers to access arbitrary CSS and JSS files and load the files multiple times via the query string in a URL.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-3594Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-62254Same product: Liferay Digital Experience Platform
CVE-2025-21048Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-23939Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-7145Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-42225Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-33109Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-35016Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-10723Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-1163Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

liferay
digital experience platform
7.3, 7.4 · ≤ 7.3 · 2023.q3.1 — 2023.q3.9 · 2023.Q4.0 — 2023.Q4.5
liferay
liferay portal
7.3.0 — 7.3.7 · 7.4.0 — 7.4.3.108

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

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 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

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.

finds

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References