CVE-2020-7961

CRITICAL KEV NUCLEI

Liferay Portal <7.2.1 CE GA2 - Code Injection

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

CVE-2020-7961 is actively exploited and listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added November 3, 2021. EIP tracks 12 public exploits from researchers including Metasploit, mzer0one, ShutdownRepo, including a Metasploit module exploits/multi/http/liferay_java_unmarshalling. A Nuclei detection template is also available.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This Metasploit module exploits a Java unmarshalling vulnerability in Liferay Portal via JSONWS to achieve remote code execution. It uses a gadget chain involving C3P0WrapperConnPool to trigger deserialization of malicious payloads.

Description

Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).

Exploits (12)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Metasploit · remotejava
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/48332

This Metasploit module exploits a Java unmarshalling vulnerability in Liferay Portal via JSONWS to achieve remote code execution. It uses a gadget chain involving C3P0WrapperConnPool to trigger deserialization of malicious payloads.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal < 6.2.5 GA6, 7.0.6 GA7, 7.1.3 GA4, 7.2.1 GA2
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target Liferay Portal instance · Vulnerable version of Liferay Portal
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 119 stars
by mzer0one · remote
https://github.com/mzer0one/CVE-2020-7961-POC

This repository contains a functional exploit PoC for CVE-2020-7961, an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Liferay Portal 7.2.0 CE GA1 via JSONWS deserialization. The exploit uses a C3P0WrapperConnPool gadget to trigger arbitrary code execution by serving a malicious serialized payload via an HTTP server.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal 7.2.0 CE GA1
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target Liferay Portal instance · Python environment with requests and BeautifulSoup libraries
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 18 stars
by ShutdownRepo · remote
https://github.com/ShutdownRepo/CVE-2020-7961

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-7961, targeting Liferay Portal's JSON web services API. The script automates the discovery of vulnerable endpoints and executes arbitrary commands via deserialization of malicious objects.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal (tested on 6.2 GA6)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target Liferay Portal instance · Exposed JSON web services API endpoint
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 5 stars
by thelostworldFree · remote
https://github.com/thelostworldFree/CVE-2020-7961-payloads

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-7961, a deserialization vulnerability in Liferay Portal. The PoC includes a Java payload template (LifExp.java) and a Python script (poc.py) that automates the exploitation process by serving a malicious serialized object via an HTTP server and triggering the vulnerability through JSON web services.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Deserialization
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target Liferay Portal instance · Java and Python installed to compile and run the exploit
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 2 stars
by CrackerCat · remote
https://github.com/CrackerCat/CVE-2020-7961-Mass

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-7961, a deserialization vulnerability in Liferay Portal. The exploit leverages a crafted serialized payload to achieve remote code execution (RCE) on vulnerable Liferay instances.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal (versions affected by CVE-2020-7961)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Target must be running a vulnerable version of Liferay Portal · Network access to the target
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WRITEUP
by neverhavenamee · remote
https://github.com/neverhavenamee/CVE-2020-7961

This repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2020-7961, a deserialization vulnerability in Liferay Portal's JSON web services. It includes root cause analysis, code paths, and exploit mechanics, demonstrating a deep understanding of the vulnerability.

Classification
Writeup 95%
Attack Type
Deserialization
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal (before 7.2.1 CE GA2)
Auth required
Prerequisites: Access to Liferay Portal instance · Valid authentication token
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec SUSPICIOUS
by pashayogi · poc
https://github.com/pashayogi/CVE-2020-7961-Mass

The repository contains no exploit code or technical details, only a request to purchase a password for $10 via email. This is a clear social engineering lure.

Classification
Suspicious 100%
Attack Type
Other
Complexity
Theoretical
Reliability
Theoretical
Target: unknown
No auth needed
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC
by Alaa-abdulridha · poc
https://github.com/Alaa-abdulridha/POC-CVE-2020-7961-Token-iterate

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-7961, a deserialization vulnerability in Liferay Portal. The PoC leverages a crafted serialized object to achieve remote code execution (RCE) by exploiting insecure deserialization in the JSONWS API.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal (likely versions before 7.2.1 CE GA2)
Auth required
Prerequisites: Access to a vulnerable Liferay Portal instance · Valid authentication token (p_auth)
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 19, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec SCANNER
by Alaa-abdulridha · poc
https://github.com/Alaa-abdulridha/GLiferay-CVE-2020-7961-golang

The repository contains a Go-based scanner for detecting CVE-2020-7961 in Liferay Portal. It checks for a deserialization vulnerability by sending a POST request to the `/api/jsonws/invoke` endpoint and analyzing the response for a specific error message.

Classification
Scanner 90%
Attack Type
Deserialization
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Target URL list in a file named 'result.txt'
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 19, 2026 Full analysis →
vulncheck_xdb WORKING POC
remote
https://github.com/random-robbie/liferay-pwn

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-7961, a deserialization vulnerability in Liferay Portal. The exploit includes both a scanner (liferay.go) and an exploit script (liferay-exploit.py) that demonstrates remote code execution (RCE) by sending a crafted serialized payload to the vulnerable endpoint.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal (versions affected by CVE-2020-7961)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Target URL with Liferay Portal instance · Network access to the vulnerable endpoint
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 25, 2026 Full analysis →
metasploit WORKING POC EXCELLENT
by Markus Wulftange, Thomas Etrillard, wvu · rubypocjava
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/http/liferay_java_unmarshalling.rb

This Metasploit module exploits a Java unmarshalling vulnerability in Liferay Portal via JSONWS to achieve remote code execution. It uses a gadget chain involving C3P0WrapperConnPool to trigger deserialization of malicious payloads.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Liferay Portal < 6.2.5 GA6, 7.0.6 GA7, 7.1.3 GA4, 7.2.1 GA2
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target Liferay Portal instance · Vulnerable version of Liferay Portal
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

Nuclei Templates (1)

Liferay Portal Unauthenticated < 7.2.1 CE GA2 - Remote Code Execution
CRITICALby dwisiswant0
Shodan: http.favicon.hash:129457226 || cpe:"cpe:2.3:a:liferay:liferay_portal"
FOFA: icon_hash=129457226

Scores

CVSS v3 9.8
EPSS 0.9441
EPSS Percentile 100.0%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation active
Automatable yes
Technical Impact total

Details

CISA KEV 2021-11-03
VulnCheck KEV 2021-01-14
InTheWild.io 2021-07-23
ENISA EUVD EUVD-2022-5527
CWE
CWE-502
Status published
Products (2)
com.liferay.portal/com.liferay.portal.kernel 0 - 4.35.3Maven
liferay/liferay_portal < 7.2.1
Published Mar 20, 2020
KEV Added Nov 03, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026