CVE-2018-11386: Symfony/symfony Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-r2rq-3h56-fqm4
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CVSS 5.9
CWE-613
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2018-11386 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.9) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration) affecting Symfony/symfony libraries in the Packagist ecosystem. The issue involves symfony dos. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11.

CVE-2018-11386 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2018-11386
GHSA Identifier GHSA-r2rq-3h56-fqm4
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.9
CWE Classification CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration
Affected Product Symfony/symfony
Package Ecosystem Packagist
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.9

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2018-11386

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Symfony/symfony dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

symfony/symfony fixed: 2.7.48 
Upgrade symfony/symfony to 2.7.48
symfony/symfony fixed: 2.8.41 
Upgrade symfony/symfony to 2.8.41
symfony/symfony fixed: 3.3.17 
Upgrade symfony/symfony to 3.3.17
symfony/symfony fixed: 3.4.11 
Upgrade symfony/symfony to 3.4.11
symfony/symfony fixed: 4.0.11 
Upgrade symfony/symfony to 4.0.11
symfony/http-foundation fixed: 2.7.48 
Upgrade symfony/http-foundation to 2.7.48
symfony/http-foundation fixed: 2.8.41 
Upgrade symfony/http-foundation to 2.8.41
symfony/http-foundation fixed: 3.3.17 
Upgrade symfony/http-foundation to 3.3.17
symfony/http-foundation fixed: 3.4.11 
Upgrade symfony/http-foundation to 3.4.11
symfony/http-foundation fixed: 4.0.11 
Upgrade symfony/http-foundation to 4.0.11
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for symfony/symfony

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2018-11386, inspect your project dependencies for Symfony/symfony:

inspect dependencies for symfony/symfony

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Symfony/symfony in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.7.48), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration, where according to wasc, "insufficient session expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session ids for authorization.". In Symfony/symfony, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

An issue was discovered in the HttpFoundation component in Symfony 2.7.x before 2.7.48, 2.8.x before 2.8.41, 3.3.x before 3.3.17, 3.4.x before 3.4.11, and 4.0.x before 4.0.11. The PDOSessionHandler class allows storing sessions on a PDO connection. Under some configurations and with a well-crafted payload, it was possible to do a denial of service on a Symfony application without too much resources.

CVE-2018-11386 Affected Symfony/symfony Versions

10 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.7.482.8.413.3.173.4.114.0.11
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
symfony/symfony
 Packagist
≥ 2.7.0
< 2.7.48
2.7.48
symfony/symfony
 Packagist
≥ 2.8.0
< 2.8.41
2.8.41
symfony/symfony
 Packagist
≥ 3.3.0
< 3.3.17
3.3.17
symfony/symfony
 Packagist
≥ 3.4.0
< 3.4.11
3.4.11
symfony/symfony
 Packagist
≥ 4.0.0
< 4.0.11
4.0.11
symfony/http-foundation
 Packagist
≥ 2.7.0
< 2.7.48
2.7.48
symfony/http-foundation
 Packagist
≥ 2.8.0
< 2.8.41
2.8.41
symfony/http-foundation
 Packagist
≥ 3.3.0
< 3.3.17
3.3.17
symfony/http-foundation
 Packagist
≥ 3.4.0
< 3.4.11
3.4.11
symfony/http-foundation
 Packagist
≥ 4.0.0
< 4.0.11
4.0.11

References

NVD — CVE-2018-11386 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-11386
Symfony/symfony Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/http-foundation/CVE-2018-11386.yaml
Symfony/symfony Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/symfony/CVE-2018-11386.yaml
Symfony/symfony Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/symfony/symfony
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/packa... WEB
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4XNBMFW33H47O5TZGA7JYCVLDBCXAJV
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/packa... WEB
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UBQK7JDXIELADIPGZIOUCZKMAJM5LSBW
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/packa... WEB
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WU5N2TZFNGXDGMXMPP7LZCWTFLENF6WH
symfony.com/blog/cve-2018-11386... WEB
https://symfony.com/blog/cve-2018-11386-denial-of-service-when-using-pdosessionhandler
symfony.com/cve-2018-11386 WEB
https://symfony.com/cve-2018-11386
Symfony/symfony Security Information SECURITY
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4262

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-11386?
CVE-2018-11386 is a security vulnerability in Symfony/symfony involving Symfony DoS under CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration.
Which Symfony/symfony versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11 across affected packages: symfony/symfony, symfony/http-foundation.
What version fixes CVE-2018-11386?
Upgrading to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is symfony/symfony affected?
Yes, symfony/symfony is affected in releases prior to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11. Upgrade your dependency to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11 or later.
Is symfony/http-foundation affected?
Yes, symfony/http-foundation is affected in releases prior to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11. Upgrade your dependency to 2.7.48, 2.8.41, 3.3.17, 3.4.11, 4.0.11 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-11386?
CVE-2018-11386 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.9 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2018-11386?
CVE-2018-11386 is classified under CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration (According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization.").
How can I check Packagist dependencies for CVE-2018-11386?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for symfony/symfony'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
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  "id" : "GHSA-r2rq-3h56-fqm4",
  "modified" : "2023-10-06T17:48:16Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-14T01:14:36Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2018-11386" ],
  "summary" : "Symfony DoS",
  "details" : "An issue was discovered in the HttpFoundation component in Symfony 2.7.x before 2.7.48, 2.8.x before 2.8.41, 3.3.x before 3.3.17, 3.4.x before 3.4.11, and 4.0.x before 4.0.11. The PDOSessionHandler class allows storing sessions on a PDO connection. Under some configurations and with a well-crafted payload, it was possible to do a denial of service on a Symfony application without too much resources.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "symfony/symfony"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.7.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.7.48"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
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    },
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    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "symfony/http-foundation"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
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      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.3.0"
      }, {
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  }, {
    "package" : {
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      "name" : "symfony/http-foundation"
    },
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  }, {
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      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "4.0.0"
      }, {
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      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-11386"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/http-foundation/CVE-2018-11386.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/symfony/CVE-2018-11386.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/symfony/symfony"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/G4XNBMFW33H47O5TZGA7JYCVLDBCXAJV"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UBQK7JDXIELADIPGZIOUCZKMAJM5LSBW"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WU5N2TZFNGXDGMXMPP7LZCWTFLENF6WH"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
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  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4262"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
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    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-07-25T17:48:01Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2018-06-13T16:29:00Z"
  }
}