CVE-2021-29052 — release.portal.bom
MEDIUMCVE-2021-29052 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom. A fix is available for com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP Fails to Check Permissions
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-29052 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,567 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom☕com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bomReal-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
The Data Engine module in Liferay Portal 7.3.0 through 7.3.5, and Liferay DXP 7.3 before fix pack 1 does not check permissions in DataDefinitionResourceImpl.getSiteDataDefinitionByContentTypeByDataDefinitionKey, which allows remote authenticated users to view DDMStructures via GET API calls.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom | ≥ 7.3.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom | all versions | 7.3.10.fp1com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.3.10.fp1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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
No patched version of com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom has shipped for CVE-2021-29052 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2021-29052 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2021-29052. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-29052 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2021-29052 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.