CVE-2021-35463
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedCross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Frontend Taglib module in Liferay Portal 7.4.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML into the management toolbar search via the `keywords` parameter.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in Liferiy Portal 7.4.0's Frontend Taglib module. The management toolbar search functionality does not properly sanitize the `keywords` parameter, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript that will execute in the context of a victim's browser session.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 7.4.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify L Portal versionCheck the installed L Portal version through the control panel (Control Panel > Configuration > System Information) or by inspecting the portal.properties file, or by querying the L OSGi module for the portal versionAffected if The installed version is exactly 7.4.0 (any build of this specific version)
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Confirm Frontend Taglib module presenceCheck if the com_liferay_frontend_taglib module is deployed in the OSGi console (under Bundles) or verify its presence in the osgi/modules or webapps directoryAffected if The Frontend Taglib module (com_liferay_frontend_taglib) is installed and running on the system
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Identify management toolbar search usageReview the application pages that utilize the management toolbar search component - inspect page source or check for usage of taglib such as <lfr-ui:management-toolbar-search> in custom portlets or themesAffected if The management toolbar search functionality is present and actively used on any portal page
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Test keywords parameter for XSS reflectionSubmit a benign XSS probe via the keywords parameter in any search field (e.g., search?keywords=%3Cscript%3Ealert(1)%3C%2Fscript%3E) and verify whether the payload is reflected unescaped in the response HTMLAffected if The keywords parameter reflects the input unsanitized in the HTML response (the payload appears as raw JavaScript rather than being HTML-encoded)
A system is affected if it runs L Portal exactly version 7.4.0 and has the Frontend Taglib module with its management toolbar search functionality enabled, as the keywords parameter will reflect injected script content without encoding.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the official Liferiy security patch for CVE-2021-35463, which typically involves updating to Liferiy Portal 7.4.1 or later, or applying the specific patch that adds proper input sanitization/encoding to the keywords parameter in the Frontend Taglib module's search component.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-35463 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-35463 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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