CVE-2020-7961Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web…
- 9.8CriticalCVSS base score
- 99.9%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Liferay Portal Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module, a Nuclei template and an Exploit-DB entry for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits3
Metasploit modules1 module
- Liferay Portal Java Unmarshalling via JSONWS RCE (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/multi/http/liferay_java_unmarshallingRank excellentdisclosed 25 Nov 2019
Nuclei templates1 template
- Liferay Portal Unauthenticated < 7.2.1 CE GA2 - Remote Code Execution (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2020/CVE-2020-7961.yamlSeverity critical
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Liferay Portal - Java Unmarshalling via JSONWS RCE (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 48332remote, javapublished 16 Apr 2020Verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 56 days later
· 56 days later
Published
- 20 months later
· 20 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.9% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Mavencom.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernelGHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 (opens in a new tab)
References
References6
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-7961 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2022-5527 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-7961)Record last updated .