How severe is CVE-2020-15842?

CVE-2020-15842 has a CVSS score of 8.1/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-15842?

CVE-2020-15842 affects the following packages: com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom (Maven), com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven), com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven), com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15842?

Update com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom to 7.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15842 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-15842 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. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-15842 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2020-15842?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-15842 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2020-15842 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-15842 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-15842?

CVE-2020-15842 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-2020-15842 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-15842 was published on July 20, 2020 and was last updated on July 8, 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

CVE-2020-15842

HIGH

CVE-2020-15842 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-15842 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.

Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP have Insecure Deserialization Vulnerability

Also known asGHSA-mg3r-9jh8-33r9

Published

Jul 20, 2020

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

4 pkgs

Patched

4 / 4

Exploits

None indexed

Blast Radius

4 pkgs affected

☕com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom☕com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom☕com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom☕com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.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 before 7.3.0, and Liferay DXP 7.0 before fix pack 90, 7.1 before fix pack 17, and 7.2 before fix pack 5, allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted serialized payloads, because of insecure deserialization.

Affected Packages

4 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom`	all versions	7.3.0
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.10.fp90	7.0.10.fp90
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.1.0&&< 7.1.10.fp17	7.1.10.fp17
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.2.0&&< 7.2.10.fp5	7.2.10.fp5

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. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom to 7.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15842 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-15842 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2020-15842. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-15842 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2020-15842 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works