CVE-2025-43748 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting multiple versions of Liferay Portal, including versions 7.0.0 through 7.4.3.119, various Liferay DXP 2023 and 2024 quarterly releases, and several older unsupported versions. The vulnerability arises from insufficient CSRF protections specifically for omni-administrator users, who possess elevated privileges within the portal. CSRF vulnerabilities allow attackers to trick authenticated users into submitting unauthorized requests to a web application, potentially leading to unauthorized actions performed with the victim's privileges. In this case, the vulnerability impacts omni-administrators, meaning an attacker could exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary administrative actions without the user's consent. The CVSS 4.0 base score is 7.1, indicating a high severity level. The vector shows that the attack requires network access (AV:N), high attack complexity (AC:H), partial attack prerequisites (AT:P), high privileges (PR:H), and user interaction (UI:A). The vulnerability impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability at a high level (VC:H, VI:H, VA:H). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, but the broad range of affected versions and the critical nature of omni-administrator privileges make this a significant risk. The lack of patch links suggests that fixes may not yet be publicly available or fully disseminated. Organizations using affected Liferay Portal versions should prioritize mitigation to prevent potential exploitation.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial. Liferay Portal is widely used in enterprise environments for content management, intranet portals, and customer-facing web applications. An attacker exploiting this CSRF vulnerability could perform unauthorized administrative actions, such as modifying content, changing configurations, or creating/deleting user accounts, potentially leading to data breaches, service disruptions, or reputational damage. Given the involvement of omni-administrator accounts, the attacker could gain extensive control over the portal environment. This could also facilitate lateral movement within the network or enable further attacks on integrated systems. The high privileges required and user interaction needed somewhat limit the attack surface, but targeted phishing or social engineering campaigns could overcome these barriers. European organizations in sectors such as government, finance, healthcare, and telecommunications, which often rely on Liferay for critical services, are particularly at risk. The vulnerability could also affect compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations if exploited to access or manipulate personal data.

1. Immediate mitigation should include restricting omni-administrator access to trusted personnel and enforcing strict session management policies to reduce the risk of session hijacking or misuse. 2. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all administrative accounts to add an additional layer of security against unauthorized actions. 3. Monitor and audit administrative activities within Liferay Portal to detect unusual or unauthorized actions promptly. 4. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block CSRF attack patterns targeting Liferay endpoints. 5. Educate omni-administrator users about the risks of phishing and social engineering attacks that could trigger CSRF exploits. 6. Regularly update and patch Liferay Portal installations as soon as official fixes become available. In the absence of patches, consider applying custom CSRF tokens or other application-level protections if feasible. 7. Review and harden the portal's configuration to minimize exposure of administrative interfaces to untrusted networks. 8. Conduct penetration testing focused on CSRF and related vulnerabilities to validate the effectiveness of mitigation controls.