How severe is CVE-2019-16891?

CVE-2019-16891 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2019-16891?

CVE-2019-16891 affects the following packages: com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2019-16891?

Update com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom to 7.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-16891 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2019-16891 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2019-16891 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.

Is CVE-2019-16891 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2019-16891, including 3 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2019-16891?

CVE-2019-16891 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 44.7%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2019-16891?

CVE-2019-16891 is classified as Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2019-16891 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2019-16891 was published on October 4, 2019 and was last updated on October 24, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2019-16891 — release.portal.bom

CRITICAL

CVE-2019-16891 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom. 3 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Liferay Portal Allows RCE via Deserialization of a JSON Payload

Also known asGHSA-372h-p48h-xw8q

Published

Oct 4, 2019

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

3 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

44.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs99th percentile — riskier than 99% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

☕com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Liferay Portal CE 7.1.0 and earlier allows remote command execution because of deserialization of a JSON payload.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom`	all versions	7.1.1`com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom:7.1.1`

Affected Products

1 product · 75 configurations

Application

liferay portalliferay

≤ 6.0.6

21 versions

6.1.06.1.16.1.26.2.06.2.16.2.26.2.36.2.46.2.57.0.07.0.17.0.2

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Liferay Portal CE 6.2.5 allows remote command execution because of deser…

sec.vnpt.vnNVDOct 2019

Report on youtube.com

youtube.comNVDFeb 2023

Report on dappsec.substack.com

dappsec.substack.comNVDFeb 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom to 7.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-16891 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.

Frequently Asked Questions

Liferay Portal CE 7.1.0 and earlier allows remote command execution because of deserialization of a JSON payload.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2019-16891 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

9.8/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Raw vector

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

CWE Classification

CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Weaponization

No Nuclei template or Metasploit module yet. 3 public proof-of-concept references are listed on this page.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

liferay-portal

2.5/10

Code-Review0/10

Maintained10/10

Branch-Protection0/10

Assessed Nov 2, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Oct 4, 2019

First exploit

Oct 10, 2019

6 days after disclosure — rapid exploitation

Last updated

Oct 24, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2019-16891

GHSA-372h-p48h-xw8q

References

Advisoryliferay.com · downloads community Advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE 2019 16891 Webliferay.dev · cst 7111 Packagegithub.com · liferay portal Evidencedappsec.substack.com · an advisory for cve 2019 16891 from Evidencesec.vnpt.vn · liferay deserialization json deserialization part 4 Evidenceyoutube.com · watch

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is critical severity — higher than any of the other 8 CVEs affecting release.portal.bom (highest there: high).

CVE-2025-62264CVE-2025-62265CVE-2025-62257CVE-2025-62266CVE-2025-62258CVE-2025-62259CVE-2025-62260CVE-2025-62261

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 24, 2026

CVE-2019-16891 — release.portal.bom

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2019-16891 in your dependencies?