CVE-2023-40191: Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP vulnerable to reflected Cross-site Scripting

Should you act?

Critical, preconditions apply

Severe if exploited, but exploitation needs conditions that may not apply to you. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.6%, percentile 49: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.6% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 49% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Needs an account (low (any account)). Exposure depends on who can log in.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom (Maven) >= 7.4.3.44, <= 7.4.3.97, fixed in 7.4.3.98; com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven) >= 2023.Q3, < 2023.Q3.6, fixed in 2023.Q3.6; com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven) >= 7.4.13.u44, <= 7.4.13.u92, no fixed version listed. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

Reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the instance settings for Accounts in Liferay Portal 7.4.3.44 through 7.4.3.97, and Liferay DXP 2023.Q3 before patch 6, and 7.4 update 44 through 92 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a crafted payload injected into the “Blocked Email Domains” text field

From the GitHub advisory

Reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the instance settings for Accounts in Liferay Portal 7.4.3.44 through 7.4.3.97, and Liferay DXP 2023.Q3 before patch 6, and 7.4 update 44 through 92 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a crafted payload injected into the “Blocked Email Domains” text field

Weakness type: CWE-79.

Product: com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom (Maven) · Assigned by: Liferay · Published: 2024-02-21

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: low (any account)
• User interaction: required (a user must click/open something)
• Scope: changed (can affect other components)

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact partial.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.62% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 49.

Timeline

• 2024-02-21 — CVE record published by Liferay
• 2024-02-21 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-468x-frcm-ghx6 published (critical)
• 2024-08-02 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vendor and project advisories, patches

1. liferay.dev liferay.dev

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-468x-frcm-ghx6 github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2023-40191 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2023-40191 nvd.nist.gov

Critical Maven advisories · Today’s Security Digest