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Liferay PortalApplication · Liferay

CVE-2023-42496

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.4.3.98 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
Reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on the add assignees to a role page in Liferay Portal 7.3.3 through 7.4.3.97, and Liferay DXP 2023.Q3 before patch 6, 7.4 GA through update 92, and 7.3 before update 34 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the _com_liferay_roles_admin_web_portlet_RolesAdminPortlet_tabs2 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 confidence

Reflected XSS in Liferay Portal/DXP RolesAdminPortlet where the _com_liferay_roles_admin_web_portlet_RolesAdminPortlet_tabs2 parameter is not properly sanitized before being rendered back to users, allowing injection of arbitrary JavaScript/HTML.

MitigationApply Liferay's vendor patches (update 34 for 7.3, update 92 for 7.4, patch 6 for 2023.Q3) or upgrade to a patched version. Implement proper output encoding on the tabs2 parameter before rendering.

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
Liferay PortalApplication
Affected:>= 7.3.3, < 7.4.3.98
Digital Experience PlatformApplication
Affected:= 7.3= 7.4

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Lifereray Portal/DXP version
    Locate the liferay-version.properties file in the Liferay installation directory (typically at [LIFERAY_HOME]/portal-impl/src/com/lifer/portal/util/lifer-version.properties) or check the OSGi console for the portal bundle version
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 7.3.3 and < 7.4.3.98 for Liferay Portal, or equals 7.3 or 7.4 for Liferay DXP
  2. Confirm RolesAdminPortlet deployment
    Check the deployed portlets in the Liferay control panel or inspect the web.xml/portlet.xml for the presence of 'roles-admin-web' portlet bundle
    Affected if The RolesAdminPortlet is deployed and accessible in the environment
  3. Verify authenticated access to Roles administration
    Confirm whether any portal user has access to the Roles section in the control panel (Control Panel > Users > Roles). The XSS requires an authenticated session to trigger the vulnerable parameter
    Affected if Users with access to the RolesAdminPortlet exist or can be created
  4. Inspect HTTP request handling for tabs2 parameter
    Review server configuration or proxy logs to observe how the _com_lifer_roles_admin_web_portlet_RolesAdminPortlet_tabs2 parameter is processed and whether output encoding is applied
    Affected if The parameter value is reflected in the response without proper encoding or sanitization

A user is affected if they run Liferay Portal 7.3.3 through 7.4.3.97 or Liferay DXP 7.3 or 7.4, and the RolesAdminPortlet is accessible to authenticated users who could be tricked into clicking a crafted link containing the malicious tabs2 parameter.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.4.3.98 or later
Fixed in 7.4.3.98
Interim mitigation

Apply Liferay's vendor patches (update 34 for 7.3, update 92 for 7.4, patch 6 for 2023.Q3) or upgrade to a patched version. Implement proper output encoding on the tabs2 parameter before rendering.

Recommended fix High confidence

Liferay Portal 7.4.3.98+ (or DXP 7.4 update 93+, DXP 7.3 update 34+, or Hotfix Patch 6 for 2023.Q3)

  1. 1. Identify the exact Liferay product and version currently running (Portal or DXP, and specific update version)
  2. 2. For Liferay Portal 7.3.3 through 7.4.3.97: Upgrade to Liferay Portal 7.4.3.98 or later
  3. 3. For Liferay DXP 7.4 GA through update 92: Upgrade to Liferay DXP 7.4 update 93 or later
  4. 4. For Liferay DXP 7.3 before update 34: Upgrade to Liferay DXP 7.3 update 34 or later
  5. 5. For Liferay DXP 2023.Q3: Apply Hotfix Patch 6 or later
  6. 6. After upgrade/patching, verify the _com_liferay_roles_admin_web_portlet_RolesAdminPortlet_tabs2 parameter is properly sanitized and no longer vulnerable
  7. 7. Test the Roles Admin Portlet add assignees functionality to confirm the XSS vulnerability is resolved
Caveat Review Liferay upgrade guides for potential breaking changes between versions, particularly when upgrading across major update milestones

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Liferay Portal Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-42496 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data