CVE-2014-5245
All 2.2.X, 2.3.X, 2.4.X, and 2.5.X versions of the Symfony HttpKernel component are affected by this security issue. Your application is vulnerable only if the ESI feature is enabled and there is a proxy in front of the web application.
This issue has been fixed in Symfony 2.3.19, 2.4.9, and 2.5.4. Note that no fixes are provided for Symfony 2.2 as it is not maintained anymore.
Description
When you enable the ESI feature and when you are using a proxy like Varnish that you configured as a trusted proxy, the FragmentHandler considered requests to render fragments as coming from a trusted source, even if the client was requesting them directly. Symfony can not distinguish between ESI requests done on behalf of the client by Varnish and faked fragment requests coming directly from the client.
To mitigate this issue, and for not-supported Symfony versions, you can use the following workaround in your Varnish configuration (/_fragment being the URL path prefix configured under the fragment setting of the framework bundle configuration):
Copy sub vcl_recv { if (req.restarts == 0 && req.url ~ "^/_fragment") { error 400; } } Resolution We do not rely on trusted IPs anymore when validating a fragment request as all fragment URLs are now signed.
The patch for this issue is available here: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/pull/11831
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
symfony / http-kernel
|
2.0.0 | 2.3.19 |
|
symfony / http-kernel
|
2.4.0 | 2.4.9 |
|
symfony / http-kernel
|
2.5.0 | 2.5.4 |
|
symfony / symfony
|
2.0.0 | 2.3.19 |
|
symfony / symfony
|
2.4.0 | 2.4.9 |
|
symfony / symfony
|
2.5.0 | 2.5.4 |
- https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/http-kernel/CVE-2014-5245.yaml
- https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/symfony/symfony/CVE-2014-5245.yaml
- https://github.com/symfony/symfony/commit/654b1f281e09dd96ffbbd3da815411700423ecf5
- https://github.com/symfony/symfony/pull/11831
- https://symfony.com/cve-2014-5245
Deep Security Visibility Without the Complexity
SynScan provides clear, real-time security insights so you can monitor your attack surface, spot risks early, and act fast—without extra complexity.
- No setup fees
- 5-min deployment
- Cancel anytime
Frequently Asked Questions
A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.