CVE-2022-42131 is a medium severity vulnerability affecting certain versions of Liferay Portal (7.1.0 through 7.4.2) and Liferay DXP (7.1 before fix pack 27, 7.2 before fix pack 17, and 7.3 before service pack 3). The vulnerability stems from missing SSL certificate validation in the Dynamic Data Mapping (DDM) module's REST data providers. Specifically, when the DDM module makes REST calls, it fails to properly validate the SSL certificates of the endpoints it communicates with. This flaw corresponds to CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation), which can allow an attacker to perform man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks by intercepting or manipulating data exchanged between the Liferay server and REST endpoints. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.8 (medium severity), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), and low impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:L/I:L) with no impact on availability (A:N). No known exploits are reported in the wild as of the published date (November 15, 2022). The lack of SSL certificate validation can lead to partial compromise of data confidentiality and integrity during REST API interactions, potentially exposing sensitive information or allowing data tampering within the affected Liferay applications. Since Liferay is widely used as an enterprise portal and content management system, especially in large organizations and government entities, this vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks against such deployments if an attacker can position themselves on the network path between the Liferay server and its REST data providers.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant depending on the deployment context of Liferay products. Many European enterprises, public sector institutions, and service providers use Liferay Portal and DXP for intranet portals, customer-facing websites, and digital experience platforms. The missing SSL certificate validation exposes these organizations to man-in-the-middle attacks that could lead to unauthorized disclosure or modification of sensitive data exchanged via REST APIs. This could include user data, business-critical information, or configuration details. While the vulnerability does not allow direct remote code execution or system takeover, the integrity and confidentiality risks could facilitate further attacks such as session hijacking, data leakage, or injection of malicious data. Given the high adoption of Liferay in sectors like government, finance, and telecommunications across Europe, exploitation could disrupt services or compromise compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. The medium severity rating reflects that exploitation requires network access and is somewhat complex, but the lack of authentication and user interaction requirements lowers the barrier for attackers who can intercept traffic. Overall, the vulnerability poses a moderate risk to European organizations relying on vulnerable Liferay versions, especially those with sensitive or regulated data flows.

Apply the official Liferay fix packs: upgrade Liferay Portal to versions above 7.4.2 or apply fix packs 27 (7.1), 17 (7.2), or service pack 3 (7.3) as appropriate to ensure SSL certificate validation is properly enforced in the Dynamic Data Mapping module. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement network-level controls such as enforcing strict TLS inspection policies, using VPNs or secure tunnels to protect REST API traffic, and restricting network access to trusted endpoints to reduce MITM attack surface. Conduct thorough configuration reviews of Liferay REST data providers to verify SSL/TLS settings and ensure that certificate validation is enabled and correctly configured. Monitor network traffic for unusual patterns indicative of MITM attempts, such as unexpected certificate changes or anomalies in REST API communications. Educate system administrators and security teams about the risks of improper SSL validation and the importance of timely patching and secure configuration management. Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) or intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) capable of detecting suspicious REST API traffic or certificate anomalies related to Liferay services.