CVE-2025-62238: Liferay DXP Stored XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-62238 Overview

CVE-2025-62238 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] affecting the Membership page in Account Settings within Liferay Portal and Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP). A remote authenticated attacker can inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript into an Account's Name text field. The payload persists in the application and executes in the browser of any user who subsequently views the affected Membership page.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can plant persistent JavaScript that runs in the sessions of other Liferay users viewing the Membership page, enabling session theft, credential harvesting, and administrative action hijacking through the Account Name field.

Affected Products

Liferay Portal 7.4.3.21 through 7.4.3.111
Liferay DXP 2023.Q4.0 through 2023.Q4.5 and 2023.Q3.1 through 2023.Q3.8
Liferay DXP 7.4 update 21 through update 92

Discovery Timeline

2025-10-10 - CVE-2025-62238 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-62238

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Account Settings Membership page, where user-supplied input in the Account Name field is stored and later rendered without sufficient output encoding. Because the injected content is written back to the DOM during page rendering, the browser interprets HTML tags and script constructs as executable markup rather than literal text.

Exploitation requires an authenticated session with permission to create or modify an Account name. Once the malicious Name value is saved, every subsequent visit to the Membership page by any user triggers execution of the payload in that user's browser context. This creates a stored, cross-user attack surface within a legitimate administrative workflow.

The practical impact includes theft of session cookies not protected by HttpOnly, forced actions against Liferay APIs using the victim's privileges, targeted phishing overlays, and pivoting to higher-privileged users who visit the affected page. The flaw is limited by the requirement for authentication and user interaction to view the page.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or incomplete output encoding on the Account Name attribute when it is emitted into the Membership page markup. Liferay's rendering path for this field does not apply HTML-context escaping consistently, allowing raw markup and script tags to survive from storage to browser.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires low-privileged authentication plus victim interaction. An attacker with the ability to set an Account name submits a crafted value containing HTML or JavaScript through the Account Settings interface. The payload is persisted server-side and later reflected into the Membership page for any authenticated user who navigates to it, including administrators.

No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. See the Liferay Security Advisory CVE-2025-62238 for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-62238

Indicators of Compromise

Account Name values in the Liferay database that contain HTML tags, <script> constructs, on*= event handlers, or javascript: URIs.
Outbound HTTP requests from user browsers to unfamiliar domains immediately after visits to /group/control_panel Membership pages.
Anomalous session cookie access patterns or unauthorized API calls originating from administrator sessions that recently loaded the Membership page.

Detection Strategies

Query the Liferay Account_ table (or equivalent) for name column values matching regular expressions such as <[^>]+> or javascript:.
Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to capture script-source violations generated by injected payloads on Account Settings pages.
Review Liferay audit logs for Account creation and update events performed by low-privilege users, correlating with subsequent administrator page views.

Monitoring Recommendations

Instrument web application firewall (WAF) rules to flag Account update requests whose name parameter contains HTML metacharacters or script keywords.
Alert on unusual DOM-based network activity originating from authenticated Liferay sessions using browser telemetry or endpoint detection.
Continuously monitor privileged Liferay accounts for behavior consistent with hijacked sessions, such as unexpected role changes or content publishing.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-62238

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Liferay Portal to a version later than 7.4.3.111 and Liferay DXP to a release above 7.4 update 92, 2023.Q3.8, or 2023.Q4.5, per the vendor advisory.
Audit all existing Account Name values and sanitize or remove any entries containing HTML or script content.
Restrict the roles and users permitted to create or rename Accounts to reduce the pool of potential attackers.

Patch Information

Liferay has published fixed releases and guidance in the Liferay Security Advisory CVE-2025-62238. Apply the vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to a fixed version to ensure the Account Name field is properly encoded on the Membership page.

Workarounds

Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts (script-src 'self') across Liferay administrative pages to blunt payload execution.
Deploy WAF signatures that reject requests containing HTML or JavaScript syntax in Account name parameters until patches are applied.
Temporarily revoke Account create and update permissions from all but a small set of trusted administrators.

bash

# Example Content Security Policy header for Liferay administrative responses
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self'; frame-ancestors 'self'; report-uri /csp-report";