CVE-2024-28861 in symfony1
Summary
by MITRE • 03/22/2024
Symfony 1 is a community-driven fork of the 1.x branch of Symfony, a PHP framework for web projects. Starting in version 1.1.0 and prior to version 1.5.19, Symfony 1 has a gadget chain due to dangerous deserialization in `sfNamespacedParameterHolder` class that would enable an attacker to get remote code execution if a developer deserializes user input in their project. Version 1.5.19 contains a patch for the issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-28861 affects Symfony 1.x framework versions between 1.1.0 and 1.5.18, representing a critical remote code execution flaw stemming from insecure deserialization practices. This issue resides within the `sfNamespacedParameterHolder` class which handles parameter serialization and deserialization operations. The flaw allows attackers to construct malicious serialized objects that, when processed by applications using Symfony 1, can trigger arbitrary code execution on the target server. The vulnerability specifically exploits the framework's handling of user-supplied data during deserialization processes, creating a dangerous gadget chain that can be leveraged by malicious actors to compromise affected systems. This represents a classic deserialization vulnerability that aligns with CWE-502, which catalogs insecure deserialization as a critical security weakness. The attack vector becomes particularly dangerous when developers inadvertently incorporate user input into deserialization workflows, as the framework's default behavior does not adequately validate or sanitize serialized data before processing.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to craft specially formatted serialized data that, when deserialized by the vulnerable `sfNamespacedParameterHolder` class, triggers a chain of method calls leading to remote code execution. This gadget chain typically involves leveraging existing classes within the Symfony framework or PHP's standard library to construct a payload that executes malicious commands on the server. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple code execution to potentially enable full system compromise, as attackers can leverage the executed code to establish persistence, escalate privileges, or exfiltrate sensitive data. The flaw demonstrates how seemingly innocuous deserialization operations can become critical attack surfaces when proper input validation and sanitization are not implemented. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter and T1133 for external remote services, as attackers can leverage the RCE capability to establish remote access and control over affected systems. The exploitation process typically involves preparing a malicious serialized object that, when processed by the vulnerable application, triggers the execution of attacker-controlled code through the framework's deserialization mechanism.
Organizations utilizing Symfony 1.x frameworks must urgently assess their applications for potential exposure to this vulnerability, particularly examining code paths that involve deserializing user input or external data sources. The recommended immediate mitigation involves upgrading to Symfony 1.5.19 or later versions where the vulnerability has been patched. Security teams should conduct comprehensive code reviews to identify any instances where user-supplied data might be passed to deserialization functions within their applications. Additionally, implementing proper input validation, sanitization, and output encoding practices can significantly reduce the risk of exploitation. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level protections such as web application firewalls to detect and block malicious deserialization attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of secure coding practices and the dangers of using frameworks with known insecure deserialization patterns. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar issues in legacy applications. Organizations maintaining older framework versions should prioritize migration to supported, secure versions rather than relying on patching mechanisms that may not address all potential attack vectors. The incident underscores the critical need for continuous security monitoring and the importance of staying current with security patches, as legacy frameworks often contain multiple undiscovered vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors.