GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f — release.portal.bom
MEDIUMGHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.7) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom. 1 public exploit reference exists, 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 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via the SimpleCaptcha API
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
GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f 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 377,166 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.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
In Liferay Portal before 7.1 CE GA4, an XSS vulnerability exists in the SimpleCaptcha API when custom code passes unsanitized input into the "url" parameter of the JSP taglib call <liferay-ui:captcha url="<%= url %>" /> or <liferay-captcha:captcha url="<%= url %>" />. Liferay Portal out-of-the-box behavior with no customizations is not vulnerable.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom | all versions | 7.1.0com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom:7.1.0 |
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 7.1 CE GA=3 / SimpleCaptcha API - Cross-Site Scripting
by Valerio Brussani · Jun 11, 2019
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
Update com.liferay.portal:release.portal.bom to 7.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-hwp2-gvm5-452f across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.