Summary
Laravel Hijacked authentication cookies vulnerability
Laravel 4.1.26 introduces security improvements for "remember me" cookies. Before this update, if a remember cookie was hijacked by another malicious user, the cookie would remain valid for a long period of time, even after the true owner of the account reset their password, logged out, etc.
This change requires the addition of a new remember_token column to your users (or equivalent) database table. After this change, a fresh token will be assigned to the user each time they login to your application. The token will also be refreshed when the user logs out of the application. The implications of this change are: if a "remember me" cookie is hijacked, simply logging out of the application will invalidate the cookie.
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.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V? GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V is a medium-severity security vulnerability in illuminate/auth (composer), affecting versions >= 4.0.0, < 4.1.26. It is fixed in 4.1.26.
- Which versions of illuminate/auth are affected by GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V? illuminate/auth (composer) versions >= 4.0.0, < 4.1.26 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V? Yes. GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V is fixed in 4.1.26. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V 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 GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V 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 GHSA-Q4XF-7FW5-4X8V? Upgrade
illuminate/authto 4.1.26 or later.