CVE-2022-28982 is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Liferay Portal versions 7.3.3 through 7.4.2 and Liferay DXP versions 7.3 prior to service pack 3. The vulnerability arises from insufficient input sanitization when processing the 'name' attribute of a tag, allowing an attacker to inject crafted payloads containing arbitrary web scripts or HTML. When a victim user accesses a page containing the malicious payload, the injected script executes in the context of the victim's browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the user. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.1, indicating a medium severity level. It requires no privileges (PR:N) but does require user interaction (UI:R), such as clicking a malicious link or viewing a compromised page. The attack vector is network-based (AV:N), and the scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. The impact on confidentiality and integrity is low (C:L/I:L), with no impact on availability (A:N). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches or vendor advisories are linked in the provided data. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-79, which is the standard classification for XSS issues. Given that Liferay Portal and DXP are widely used enterprise content management and collaboration platforms, this vulnerability could be leveraged to target users within organizations that deploy these products, especially if they allow user-generated content or tags that are not properly sanitized.

For European organizations using Liferay Portal or Liferay DXP, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the confidentiality and integrity of user sessions and data. Successful exploitation could allow attackers to steal session cookies, impersonate users, or perform unauthorized actions within the affected portal environment. This could lead to data leakage, unauthorized access to sensitive information, or manipulation of portal content. Since Liferay is often used by government agencies, educational institutions, and enterprises across Europe for intranet portals, public websites, and collaboration platforms, the impact could extend to disruption of business processes, reputational damage, and potential regulatory non-compliance under GDPR if personal data is compromised. The requirement for user interaction reduces the risk somewhat, but phishing or social engineering campaigns could facilitate exploitation. The lack of known active exploits suggests limited immediate threat, but the medium severity and scope change imply that organizations should prioritize remediation to prevent potential targeted attacks.

European organizations should implement the following specific mitigation steps: 1) Identify all instances of Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP in their environment, including versions, to assess exposure. 2) Apply the latest available patches or service packs from Liferay that address this vulnerability; if no official patch is available, consider upgrading to versions beyond 7.4.2 or 7.3 SP3 where the issue is resolved. 3) Implement strict input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data, especially for tag names or similar fields that may be rendered in HTML contexts. 4) Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts and reduce the impact of XSS attacks. 5) Educate users about phishing and social engineering risks to reduce the likelihood of user interaction with malicious payloads. 6) Monitor web application logs and user activity for unusual behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 7) Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules tailored to detect and block XSS payloads targeting Liferay portals. 8) Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on web application vulnerabilities to identify and remediate similar issues proactively.