How severe is CVE-2021-38268?

CVE-2021-38268 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-38268?

CVE-2021-38268 affects the following packages: com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service (Maven), com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.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-2021-38268?

Update com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service to 6.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-38268 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-38268 in my Maven dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-38268 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Is CVE-2021-38268 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-38268 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 is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-38268?

CVE-2021-38268 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 55th 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 indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-38268?

CVE-2021-38268 is classified as Incorrect Default Permissions (CWE-276). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2021-38268 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-38268 was published on March 2, 2022 and was last updated on September 5, 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

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-38268 — com.liferay.dynamic.data.…

MEDIUMFix: liferay/liferay-portal@1622842

CVE-2021-38268 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service. A fix is available for com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP has incorrect default permissions for site members

Also known asBIT-liferay-2021-38268GHSA-f855-2rvm-5j7h

Published

Mar 2, 2022

Updated

Sep 5, 2026

Affected

5 pkgs

Patched

5 / 5

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs55th percentile — riskier than 55% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-38268 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,386 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

5 pkgs affected

☕com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service☕com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.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

The Dynamic Data Mapping module before 4.0.39 from Liferay Portal 7.0.0 through 7.3.6, and Liferay DXP 7.0 before fix pack 101, 7.1 before fix pack 21, 7.2 before fix pack 10 and 7.3 before fix pack 2 incorrectly sets default permissions for site members, which allows remote authenticated users with the site member role to add and duplicate forms, via the UI or the API.

Affected Packages

5 total 5 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service`	all versions	6.0.0`com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service:6.0.0`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.10.fp101	7.0.10.fp101`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.0.10.fp101`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.1.0&&< 7.1.10.fp21	7.1.10.fp21`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.1.10.fp21`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.2.0&&< 7.2.10.fp10	7.2.10.fp10`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.2.10.fp10`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.3.0&&< 7.3.10.fp2	7.3.10.fp2`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.3.10.fp2`

Affected Products

2 products · 13 configurations

Application

digital experience platformliferay

< 7.2.1

2 versions

7.27.3

Application

liferay portalliferay

≥ 7.0.0 && < 7.3.7

range

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:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.liferay:com.liferay.dynamic.data.mapping.service to 6.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-38268 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-38268 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

6.5/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

High

Availability

None

Raw vector

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

CWE Classification

CWE-276Incorrect Default Permissions

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

liferay-portal

2.5/10

Maintained10/10

Code-Review0/10

Branch-Protection0/10

Assessed Oct 5, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Mar 2, 2022

Last updated

Sep 5, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2021-38268

GHSA-f855-2rvm-5j7h

BIT-liferay-2021-38268

References

Advisoryportal.liferay.dev Advisorynvd.nist.gov Fixportal.liferay.dev Webgithub.com Webliferay.atlassian.net Webliferay.dev Packagegithub.com

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is medium severity, in line with the other 8 CVEs affecting release.dxp.bom.

CVE-2025-43785CVE-2025-43776CVE-2025-43735CVE-2025-43736CVE-2025-43734CVE-2025-4581CVE-2025-4655CVE-2025-3760

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedSep 5, 2026

CVE-2021-38268 — com.liferay.dynamic.data.…

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-2021-38268 in your dependencies?