Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2022-42125 affects certain Liferay Portal and Liferay DXP 7.4 releases. A malicious plugin or module could abuse archive extraction to write files outside the intended location, potentially overwriting important files. The primary business risk is unauthorized file modification on the server.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for affected Liferay 7.4 environments. Prioritize remediation where plugin deployment is exposed, delegated broadly, or includes third-party modules. If no affected versions are present, track as informational.
Technical view
This is a Zip Slip path traversal issue in Liferay FileUtil.unzip, classified as CWE-22. The CVE lists Liferay Portal 7.4.3.5 through 7.4.3.35 and Liferay DXP 7.4 update 1 through update 34 as affected. CVSS 3.1 is 7.5, with high integrity impact and no stated confidentiality or availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to organizations running the listed Liferay 7.4 versions, especially where plugins or modules can be deployed or processed from untrusted sources. Confirm exact product and update level against Liferay guidance.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The attack context is deployment of a malicious plugin or module that triggers unsafe unzip behavior. Do not assume internet-wide exploitation without additional evidence.
Researcher notes
The source bundle’s structured affected product fields are incomplete, but the CVE description provides specific Liferay version ranges. The CVSS vector states network, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction; the narrative ties exploitation to malicious plugin/module deployment. Patch details are not included in the bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Identify Liferay Portal and DXP 7.4 instances and their exact update levels.
- Move affected systems off the listed vulnerable versions per Liferay guidance.
- Restrict plugin and module deployment to trusted administrators and approved sources.
- Review server file permissions to limit damage from unintended overwrites.
- Monitor Liferay and filesystem integrity logs for unexpected file changes.
Validation and detection
- Compare installed versions against the affected ranges in the CVE description.
- Check whether Liferay advisory guidance or fixes have been applied.
- Review recent plugin or module deployments for untrusted or unexpected packages.
- Inspect critical application directories for unexpected file additions or overwrites.
- Document compensating controls if immediate upgrade is not possible.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-22: File access and web shell behavior lookup
File traversal and upload weaknesses can lead teams to review file, web shell, execution, and collection telemetry. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-42125 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N3.93.6CISA-ADPVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/cve-2022-42125CVE reference, mitre
- https://issues.liferay.com/browse/LPE-17517CVE reference, mitre
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.