# CVE-2020-7961 — Liferay Portal

**CISA KEV**

> As of 2026-11-09, CVE-2020-7961 is a CRITICAL-severity vulnerability in Liferay Portal, CVSS v3.1 9.8, EPSS 99.9% (99.9th percentile). It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), with a US federal remediation deadline of 2022-05-03. Threadlinqs Intelligence links 1 tracked threat campaign to CVE-2020-7961, most recently “Operation Snowball: Autonomous AI-Driven Intrusion Campaign Exploiting Cisco BroadWorks XSP (CVE-2026-20320) Against European Telecom”.

**Last updated:** 2026-11-09

## What is CVE-2020-7961?

Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Liferay Portal prior to 7.2.1 CE GA2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via JSON web services (JSONWS).

The record classifies CVE-2020-7961 under weakness class [CWE-502](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/cwe/CWE-502). Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw is reachable remotely over the network, needs no prior authentication, needs no user interaction, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability. 1 affected-product entry is recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 2425 days ago.

## Severity and exploitation probability

- **CVSS v3.1 base score:** 9.8 — CRITICAL (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **EPSS (FIRST):** 99.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.9% of all scored CVEs
- **CISA KEV:** Listed since 2021-11-03, federal remediation deadline 2022-05-03
- **Threadlinqs priority:** 9/10 — CISA KEV-listed, which Threadlinqs floors at 9
- **Published:** 2020-03-20

## Is CVE-2020-7961 being exploited?

CISA added CVE-2020-7961 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2022-05-03 under BOD 22-01. Weaponised exploit code for CVE-2020-7961 is publicly available. 11 public proof-of-concept repositories are tracked for this identifier. A ProjectDiscovery Nuclei detection template exists (`http/cves/2020/CVE-2020-7961.yaml`). It currently carries a trending score of 50 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.

- [mzer0one/CVE-2020-7961-POC](https://github.com/mzer0one/CVE-2020-7961-POC) (github)
- [ShutdownRepo/CVE-2020-7961](https://github.com/ShutdownRepo/CVE-2020-7961) (github)
- [dinosn/liferay-ga4-rce-research](https://github.com/dinosn/liferay-ga4-rce-research) (github)
- [thelostworldFree/CVE-2020-7961-payloads](https://github.com/thelostworldFree/CVE-2020-7961-payloads) (github)
- [CrackerCat/CVE-2020-7961-Mass](https://github.com/CrackerCat/CVE-2020-7961-Mass) (github)
- [Alaa-abdulridha/POC-CVE-2020-7961-Token-iterate](https://github.com/Alaa-abdulridha/POC-CVE-2020-7961-Token-iterate) (github)
- [Alaa-abdulridha/GLiferay-CVE-2020-7961-golang](https://github.com/Alaa-abdulridha/GLiferay-CVE-2020-7961-golang) (github)
- [pashayogi/CVE-2020-7961-Mass](https://github.com/pashayogi/CVE-2020-7961-Mass) (github)

## Affected products and versions

- **Liferay**: Portal

Affected software packages:

- `maven:com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel` — patched in 4.35.3

## How to fix CVE-2020-7961

Fixed versions are recorded for 1 package: maven:com.liferay.portal:com.liferay.portal.kernel 4.35.3. Vendor advisory: [https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities](https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities). Because CVE-2020-7961 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2022-05-03. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.

## Threat activity tracking CVE-2020-7961

1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2020-7961, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.

- [Operation Snowball: Autonomous AI-Driven Intrusion Campaign Exploiting Cisco BroadWorks XSP (CVE-2026-20320) Against European Telecom](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-5542) — HIGH · 2026-11-09

## Sources

Enriched from CVE.org, NVD, FIRST EPSS, CISA KEV, GitHub Security Advisories, public proof-of-concept repositories, ProjectDiscovery Nuclei. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

**Vendor advisory and patch**

- [portal.liferay.dev](https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/id/117954271)

**Other references**

- [portal.liferay.dev](https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities)
- [packetstormsecurity.com](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157254/Liferay-Portal-Java-Unmarshalling-Remote-Code-Execution.html)
- [packetstormsecurity.com (Liferay Portal Remote Code Execution)](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158392/Liferay-Portal-Remote-Code-Execution.html)
- [research.checkpoint.com](https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/freakout-leveraging-newest-vulnerabilities-for-creating-a-botnet/)

Canonical: https://intel.threadlinqs.com/cve/CVE-2020-7961
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