VulnerabilityPublished 22 Sep 2022Updated 27 May 2025

CVE-2022-28977: Liferay Portal · Open Redirect

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.1 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.1Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 48% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Sep 2022
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
n/a n/a	Affected =7.3.1 <=7.4.2 >=7.0 <=101 >=7.1 <=25 >=7.2 <=14	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2022-28977, European organizations should: 1) Apply official patches or upgrade to fixed versions of Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP as soon as they become available from the vendor. 2) Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all redirect parameters beyond relying solely on HtmlUtil.escapeRedirect, including normalization of URLs to remove multiple forward slashes and other bypass techniques. 3) Employ allowlists for redirect URLs to ensure redirection only occurs to trusted internal domains or explicitly approved external URLs. 4) Use Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict navigation and framing to trusted domains, reducing the impact of malicious redirects. 5) Educate users and staff about phishing risks and encourage cautious behavior when clicking on links, especially those received via email or untrusted sources. 6) Monitor web server logs and application logs for unusual redirect patterns or spikes in redirect parameter usage that could indicate exploitation attempts. 7) Consider implementing web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules to detect and block suspicious redirect URLs containing multiple forward slashes or known bypass patterns. These steps collectively reduce the risk of exploitation and limit the potential damage if an attack occurs.

Description

HtmlUtil.escapeRedirect in Liferay Portal 7.3.1 through 7.4.2, and Liferay DXP 7.0 fix pack 91 through 101, 7.1 fix pack 17 through 25, 7.2 fix pack 5 through 14, and 7.3 before service pack 3 can be circumvented by using multiple forward slashes, which allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary external URLs via the (1) 'redirect` parameter (2) `FORWARD_URL` parameter, and (3) others parameters that rely on HtmlUtil.escapeRedirect.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2022-28977 can be significant, especially for those relying on Liferay Portal or Liferay DXP for their web portals, intranets, or customer-facing applications. The open redirect vulnerability can be exploited by attackers to redirect legitimate users to malicious external sites, facilitating phishing attacks, credential harvesting, or malware distribution. This can lead to reputational damage, loss of customer trust, and potential regulatory repercussions under GDPR if personal data is compromised as a result of subsequent attacks. Additionally, since the scope is changed (S:C), the vulnerability could be used to bypass same-origin policies in some scenarios, potentially enabling further exploitation. The requirement for user interaction means that attackers must entice users to click on crafted URLs, which is common in phishing campaigns. The medium severity indicates that while the vulnerability is not critical, it still poses a meaningful risk that should be addressed promptly to prevent exploitation. Organizations in sectors with high web portal usage, such as government, finance, healthcare, and education, may face higher risks due to the sensitivity of their data and the critical nature of their services.

CWE-601URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: LowOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a redirect.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
Use an intermediate disclaimer page that provides the user with a clear warning that they are leaving the current site. Implement a long timeout before the redirect occurs, or force the user to click on the link. Be careful to avoid XSS problems (CWE-79) when generating the disclaimer page.
Architecture and Design · Enforcement by Conversion
When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.1.5 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Cross-Site Flashing (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 6 Jul 2025, 03:11 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-601

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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