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CVE-2020-7961

99
FAUCET Score

CVE-2020-7961 is a critical deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability affecting Liferay Portal prior to version 7.2.1 CE GA2, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (Critical) due to its network-based attack vector, low complexity, and complete compromise potential (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability). This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild, with readily available exploit modules in Metasploit and Nuclei templates, and has garnered significant community discussion and media coverage, including its use by the FreakOut malware.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
< 7.2.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:liferay:liferay_portal:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

9.8CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
99.77%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
100.0%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-26
Model: v2026.06.15
Added to KEV · Nov 3, 2021
Metasploit: Liferay Portal Java Unmarshalling via JSONWS RCE · Nov 25, 2019
Nuclei: CVE-2020-7961 · Jul 4, 2020
ExploitDB: EDB-48332 · Apr 16, 2020
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.9977 is in the 100th percentile among its peer group of 36,835 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.3 Bluesky, 0.3 Mastodon, and 2.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (1)

mavenpatch availablevia ghsa
Product: com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernelFixed in: 4.35.3

Vendor Advisories (1)

mavenGHSA-w7pm-cc4v-f3g8critical

Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal

May 24, 2022

References

cisa.gov / known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
US Government Resource
packetstormsecurity.com / files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
packetstormsecurity.com / files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
portal.liferay.dev / learn/security/known-vulnerabilities
Broken LinkVendor Advisory
portal.liferay.dev / learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271
Broken LinkVendor Advisory
research.checkpoint.com / 2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet
ExploitThird Party Advisory