What is CVE-2020-7961?

CVE-2020-7961 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Liferay Portal, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-03-20.

How severe is CVE-2020-7961?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-7961 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-7961 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 126 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Deserialization in Liferay Portal

CVE-2020-7961

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).

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

Published 2020-03-20 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.999 (100.0th percentile), scored 2026-10-07.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 100.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.999 · newest: 0.999 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Liferay Portal

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2021-11-03. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-05-03.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities (Broken Link, Vendor Advisory)
portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5m… (Broken Link, Vendor Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-C… (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-cre… (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-7961?: CVE-2020-7961 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Liferay Portal, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-03-20.
How severe is CVE-2020-7961?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-7961 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2020-7961 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 126 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.