How severe is CVE-2021-38269?

CVE-2021-38269 has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-38269?

CVE-2021-38269 affects the following packages: com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web (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-2021-38269?

Update com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web to 5.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-38269 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-38269 in my Maven dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-38269 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Is CVE-2021-38269 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-38269 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-2021-38269?

CVE-2021-38269 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.6%, placing it in the 46th 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-2021-38269?

CVE-2021-38269 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). 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-2021-38269 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-38269 was published on March 3, 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-2021-38269 — com.liferay.gogo.shell.web

MEDIUMFix: liferay/liferay-portal@0b28a0d

CVE-2021-38269 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web. A fix is available for com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) in the Gogo Shell module

Also known asBIT-liferay-2021-38269GHSA-vw6g-gh6c-8qwp

Published

Mar 3, 2022

Updated

Sep 5, 2026

Affected

4 pkgs

Patched

4 / 4

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 3, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs46th percentile — riskier than 46% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-38269 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

4 pkgs affected

☕com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web☕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

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Gogo Shell module before 5.0.2 from Liferay Portal 7.1.0 through 7.3.6 and 7.4.0, and Liferay DXP 7.1 before fix pack 23, 7.2 before fix pack 13, and 7.3 before fix pack 2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the output of a Gogo Shell command.

Affected Packages

4 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web`	all versions	5.0.2`com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web:5.0.2`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.1.0&&< 7.1.10.fp23	7.1.10.fp23`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.1.10.fp23`
☕Maven	`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom`	≥ 7.2.0&&< 7.2.10.fp13	7.2.10.fp13`com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom:7.2.10.fp13`
☕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 · 41 configurations

Application

digital experience platformliferay

3 versions

7.17.27.3

Application

liferay portalliferay

≥ 7.1.0 && ≤ 7.3.6

1 version

7.4.0

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.gogo.shell.web, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.liferay:com.liferay.gogo.shell.web to 5.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-38269 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-38269 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

5.4/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Raw vector

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

CWE Classification

CWE-79Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

liferay-portal

2.5/10

Code-Review0/10

Maintained10/10

Branch-Protection0/10

Assessed Sep 28, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Mar 3, 2022

Last updated

Sep 5, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2021-38269

GHSA-vw6g-gh6c-8qwp

BIT-liferay-2021-38269

References

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