Summary
symfony/ux-autocomplete: Information exposure via unescaped LIKE wildcards in EntitySearchUtil
Description
Symfony\UX\Autocomplete\Doctrine\EntitySearchUtil::addSearchClause() builds the LIKE expression used by the autocomplete endpoint by wrapping the client-supplied query in %...% without escaping the SQL LIKE wildcards (%, _, \). The value is passed as a bound parameter, so this is not SQL injection, but a client can send % to match every row or use _ as a single-character wildcard.
Because searchable_fields defaults to every property of the entity and the autocomplete endpoint is public by default (BaseEntityAutocompleteType ships with security => false), an unauthenticated user can turn the endpoint into a broad matcher or a blind boolean oracle against every column of the entity, including columns the application never intended to expose.
Resolution
EntitySearchUtil now escapes \, %, and _ in the user-supplied query with addcslashes() and appends an explicit ESCAPE '\' clause to the generated LIKE expression, so those characters are matched literally. The exact-match words_query IN() branch is unchanged.
The patch for this issue is available here for branch 2.x (and forward-ported to 3.x).
Credits
Symfony would like to thank Pascal Cescon for reporting the issue and providing the fix.
Impact
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
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. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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symfony/ux-autocomplete to 2.36.0 or later; symfony/ux-autocomplete to 3.1.0 or later
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-49211? CVE-2026-49211 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in symfony/ux-autocomplete (composer), affecting versions >= 2.2.0, < 2.36.0. It is fixed in 2.36.0, 3.1.0.
- Which versions of symfony/ux-autocomplete are affected by CVE-2026-49211? symfony/ux-autocomplete (composer) versions >= 2.2.0, < 2.36.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-49211? Yes. CVE-2026-49211 is fixed in 2.36.0, 3.1.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-49211 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-49211 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
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-49211 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.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-49211?
- Upgrade
symfony/ux-autocompleteto 2.36.0 or later - Upgrade
symfony/ux-autocompleteto 3.1.0 or later
- Upgrade