CVE-2025-43739 Overview
CVE-2025-43739 is a business logic flaw in the Liferay Portal calendar portlet. Any authenticated user can modify the content of emails sent through the calendar portlet to other users in the same organization. Attackers abuse this behavior to deliver phishing messages that appear to originate from a trusted internal system. The issue affects Liferay Portal 7.4.0 through 7.4.3.132 and multiple Liferay DXP release trains, including 2025.Q1, 2024.Q4, 2024.Q3, 2024.Q2, 2024.Q1, and 7.4 GA through update 92.
Critical Impact
Authenticated internal users can craft attacker-controlled emails that are sent by the Liferay platform to other organization members, enabling credible phishing campaigns from a trusted source.
Affected Products
- Liferay Portal 7.4.0 through 7.4.3.132
- Liferay DXP 2025.Q1.0 through 2025.Q1.6, 2024.Q4.0 through 2024.Q4.7, 2024.Q3.1 through 2024.Q3.13, 2024.Q2.0 through 2024.Q2.13, 2024.Q1.1 through 2024.Q1.16
- Liferay DXP 7.4 GA through update 92
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-08-19 - CVE-2025-43739 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-43739
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability resides in the calendar portlet's email dispatch workflow. The portlet allows any authenticated user to alter the body or content of notification emails that the platform sends to other users in the same organization. Because messages are delivered by the Liferay server itself, recipients see a legitimate internal sender and standard branding. This trust context makes the flaw effective for intra-organization phishing, credential harvesting, and social engineering.
The CWE mapping is [CWE-203], but the practical impact is a broken access control and business logic issue: the application does not restrict who may modify the outgoing message content on behalf of the calendar workflow. No elevated role is required beyond an authenticated organization account.
Root Cause
The calendar portlet accepts user-supplied content and includes it in outgoing emails without enforcing an authorization boundary between the invoking user and the resulting message payload. Any organization member can therefore control the text delivered to co-workers by the platform mailer.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires network access to the portal and a valid organization user account. The attacker interacts with the calendar portlet, submits modified email content, and triggers delivery to targeted recipients within the same organization. User interaction is required on the victim side to act on the phishing content. No verified public exploit or proof-of-concept is currently listed, and the CVE is not present on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
See the Liferay CVE-2025-43739 Advisory for vendor-provided technical detail.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-43739
Indicators of Compromise
- Outbound calendar notification emails whose body content deviates from the standard Liferay template or contains unexpected URLs, attachments, or credential prompts.
- Multiple calendar events created or modified by a single user account targeting recipients across the organization within a short interval.
- Recipient reports of internal-looking phishing emails that reference calendar invitations or reminders.
Detection Strategies
- Enable Liferay audit logging for the calendar portlet and correlate CalendarBooking create/update events with subsequent outbound mail from the portal mail service.
- Inspect mail server logs for messages originating from the Liferay sender that contain suspicious phrases (password resets, urgent approvals, external links) and cross-reference the initiating user.
- Deploy DMARC, DKIM, and SPF alignment monitoring so that internally-relayed phishing generated via the portal is still surfaced by mail security tooling.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on high-volume calendar events created by non-administrative accounts, especially those with recipient lists spanning multiple departments.
- Track anomalous editing of calendar notification content by users who have not previously used the portlet.
- Forward Liferay application logs and mail relay logs into a centralized SIEM or data lake for behavioral analysis and retention.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-43739
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade Liferay Portal and DXP to a fixed release per the vendor advisory. Prioritize internet-facing and multi-tenant deployments.
- Review the last 90 days of calendar portlet activity for suspicious event creation or notification edits.
- Notify organization users about the risk of internally-delivered phishing that references calendar invites while remediation is in progress.
Patch Information
Liferay has published fix information in the Liferay CVE-2025-43739 Advisory. Apply the vendor-supplied service pack or update matching your DXP release train (2025.Q1, 2024.Q4, 2024.Q3, 2024.Q2, 2024.Q1, or 7.4 update 92+).
Workarounds
- Restrict access to the calendar portlet to trusted roles until patches are applied, using Liferay's role and permission configuration.
- Disable user-editable notification content in the calendar portlet configuration where feasible.
- Add banner warnings to portal-generated emails indicating that content may be user-authored, reducing the credibility of phishing attempts.
# Configuration example: restrict calendar portlet access via Liferay CLI/portal-ext.properties
# Limit calendar portlet visibility to specific roles
company.default.home.url=/group/guest
permissions.user.check.algorithm=6
# Then in Control Panel > Roles, remove ADD_EVENT and UPDATE permissions
# on the Calendar resource for the default Organization User role.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
