CVE-2022-23601

Description

The Symfony form component provides a CSRF protection mechanism by using a random token injected in the form and using the session to store and control the token submitted by the user.
When using the FrameworkBundle, this protection can be enabled or disabled with the configuration. If the configuration is not specified, by default, the mechanism is enabled as long as the session is enabled.

In a recent change in the way the configuration is loaded, the default behavior has been dropped and, as a result, the CSRF protection is not enabled in form when not explicitly enabled, which makes the application sensible to CSRF attacks.

Resolution

Symfony restored the default configuration to enable the CSRF protection by default.

The patch for this issue is available here for branch 5.3.

Credits

We would like to thank Catalin Dan and David Lochner for reporting the issue and Jérémy Derussé for fixing the issue.

A victim's authenticated browser session is used to submit forged requests to an application that cannot distinguish them from legitimate ones. Typical impact: state-changing actions performed as the victim without their consent.

CVE-2022-23601 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (5.3.15, 5.4.4, 6.0.4); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

1. What is CVE-2022-23601? CVE-2022-23601 is a high-severity cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in symfony/framework-bundle (composer), affecting versions = 5.3.14. It is fixed in 5.3.15, 5.4.4, 6.0.4. A victim's authenticated browser session is used to submit forged requests to an application that cannot distinguish them from legitimate ones.
2. How severe is CVE-2022-23601? CVE-2022-23601 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of symfony/framework-bundle are affected by CVE-2022-23601? symfony/framework-bundle (composer) versions = 5.3.14 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2022-23601? Yes. CVE-2022-23601 is fixed in 5.3.15, 5.4.4, 6.0.4. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2022-23601 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-23601 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2022-23601 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2022-23601?
   • Upgrade symfony/framework-bundle to 5.3.15 or later
   • Upgrade symfony/framework-bundle to 5.4.4 or later
   • Upgrade symfony/framework-bundle to 6.0.4 or later

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