CVE-2025-62258: Liferay DXP CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-62258 Overview

CVE-2025-62258 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability [CWE-352] affecting the Headless API in Liferay Portal and Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP). The flaw allows remote attackers to invoke arbitrary Headless API endpoints by abusing the endpoint parameter when an authenticated user visits an attacker-controlled page. Liferay is a widely deployed Java-based enterprise portal and DXP used to host customer portals, intranets, and content-driven applications, making this an exposure with substantial enterprise reach.

Critical Impact
An attacker can coerce an authenticated Liferay user's browser into executing arbitrary Headless API calls, enabling unauthorized state changes across portal content, users, and configuration within the victim's privilege scope.

Affected Products

Liferay Portal 7.4.0 through 7.4.3.107
Liferay DXP 2023.Q3.1 through 2023.Q3.4, 7.4 GA through update 92, 7.3 GA through update 35
Older unsupported Liferay Portal and DXP versions

Discovery Timeline

2025-10-27 - CVE-2025-62258 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-62258

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Headless API request handling logic in Liferay Portal and DXP. The Headless API exposes REST endpoints for managing content, users, sites, and other portal objects. The affected code path accepts an endpoint parameter that dictates which Headless API operation to execute, but does not enforce anti-CSRF protections such as an origin-bound token on state-changing requests.

Because session authentication relies on browser cookies, a victim who is authenticated to a vulnerable Liferay instance can be tricked into visiting an attacker-controlled page. That page triggers a cross-origin request that carries the victim's session, and the server processes the request as if the victim initiated it. User interaction is required, which is consistent with classic CSRF exploitation patterns.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing CSRF protection on a proxy-style request handler that forwards calls to Headless API endpoints selected by user-controlled input. The handler trusts the ambient session and the value of the endpoint parameter without validating a CSRF token or verifying the request origin. This maps to [CWE-352] Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is network-based and requires an authenticated victim to visit a malicious page. The attacker crafts an HTML page that submits a form or issues a fetch request to the vulnerable Liferay endpoint, passing an endpoint value referencing a sensitive Headless API operation. When the victim's browser sends the request, it automatically attaches the Liferay session cookie, and the server executes the referenced Headless API call with the victim's privileges. Impact is bounded by the victim's role, so exploitation against an administrator can result in high-integrity changes such as user creation, permission modification, or content manipulation.

No public proof-of-concept is available at the time of publication, and this CVE is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-62258

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected Headless API calls in Liferay access logs originating from requests whose Referer header points to external or unknown domains.
Requests to the vulnerable handler containing an endpoint parameter that targets sensitive Headless API paths such as user, role, or site management.
Administrative Headless API actions performed shortly after a user visited an external URL, correlated via web proxy and portal logs.

Detection Strategies

Enable and centralize Liferay access and audit logs, then alert on Headless API state-changing verbs (POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) that carry a cross-origin Referer or Origin.
Baseline normal Headless API usage per user role and flag anomalous invocations of privileged endpoints from interactive browser sessions.
Inspect web application firewall (WAF) logs for requests containing an endpoint query parameter referencing Headless API routes.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest Liferay portal, reverse proxy, and WAF logs into a centralized analytics platform and retain them for incident review.
Monitor for privilege changes, new administrative accounts, and content modifications that lack a corresponding legitimate admin session.
Alert on outbound browser navigations from administrators to untrusted domains immediately preceding Headless API activity.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-62258

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the Liferay-provided fixes for Liferay Portal and DXP versions listed in the vendor advisory as soon as possible.
Restrict network exposure of Liferay administrative interfaces and Headless APIs to trusted networks or VPN-only access.
Require administrators to use dedicated browsers or profiles for portal administration to reduce CSRF exposure from general browsing.

Patch Information

Refer to the Liferay Security Advisory CVE-2025-62258 for fixed versions and upgrade guidance for Liferay Portal 7.4 and Liferay DXP 7.3, 7.4, and 2023.Q3 release lines. Upgrade unsupported older versions to a maintained release that includes the fix.

Workarounds

Deploy a WAF rule that blocks state-changing requests to the vulnerable Liferay endpoint when the Origin or Referer header does not match the portal's own domain.
Enforce SameSite=Lax or SameSite=Strict on Liferay session cookies to limit cross-site request inclusion where compatible with deployment.
Reduce the blast radius by ensuring administrators log in only when needed and log out immediately after administrative tasks.

bash

# Example WAF rule concept: reject cross-origin state-changing requests
# to the vulnerable Headless API proxy endpoint.
SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "@rx ^(POST|PUT|PATCH|DELETE)$" \
  "chain,deny,status:403,id:1006225,msg:'Liferay CVE-2025-62258 CSRF block'"
  SecRule ARGS_NAMES "@streq endpoint" "chain"
    SecRule &REQUEST_HEADERS:Origin "@eq 0" "chain"
      SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@beginsWith https://portal.example.com/"