Summary
Guzzle: Host-only cookie scope is not preserved
Workarounds
If you cannot upgrade immediately, do not reuse one CookieJar instance across parent and child hosts with different trust levels. Use a separate cookie jar for each host or trust boundary, disable cookie handling for requests to less-trusted hosts, or avoid making those requests through a client configured with a shared jar. In particular, avoid new Client(['cookies' => true]) for a client that may contact both a trusted parent host and less-trusted subdomains, because that option creates one jar for the whole client.
When upgrading, delete or rotate existing FileCookieJar and SessionCookieJar data that contains cookie records written without a HostOnly marker. Records may instead be annotated manually only when the original presence or absence of the cookie's Domain attribute is known. The stored domain string is not sufficient to infer it safely.
References
Impact
In affected versions, CookieJar does not preserve whether a response cookie was set without a Domain attribute or with an empty one. A cookie without Domain is host-only and must be returned only to the exact host that set it. Under current cookie processing rules, an empty Domain value is also host-only. Guzzle instead stores the request host in the cookie's Domain field and later applies ordinary domain matching, as though the server had supplied a valid domain. For example, a host-only sid=secret cookie set by example.com can subsequently be sent to child.example.com. FileCookieJar and SessionCookieJar also persist the request host without recording the host-only state, so reloading a jar preserves the widened scope.
An attacker who controls or can observe a child host can therefore receive cookies that were intended only for its parent host. Depending on the cookie, this can disclose session identifiers, authorization tokens, or other sensitive state. Exploitation requires the application to enable Guzzle's cookie support, reuse the same built-in cookie jar, receive a host-only cookie from a parent host, and later make a matching request to a less-trusted child host. The cookie's other restrictions still apply. Its path must match, a Secure cookie is sent only over a secure connection, and an expired cookie is not sent.
Applications that do not use Guzzle's cookie support are not affected. Applications are also not affected by this disclosure if they use a separate jar for every host or trust boundary, never request a less-trusted subdomain with the same jar, or only store cookies carrying a valid, non-empty Domain attribute. The incorrect behavior occurs between an otherwise valid parent host and its subdomains.
GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. 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 (7.15.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
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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The issue is patched in 7.15.1 and later. Starting in that release, Guzzle records whether a response cookie is host-only and matches it only against the exact host. The host-only flag is part of cookie identity for replacement and response-driven deletion. Cookies carrying a valid, non-empty Domain attribute retain their existing domain-matching behavior. A host-only cookie can coexist with an explicit-domain cookie having the same name, domain string, and path.
The built-in persistent jars now write a boolean HostOnly marker for every stored cookie record. They reject records where that marker is missing or is not a boolean, and validate all records before changing the live jar. Persisted cookie records written by an older version are therefore rejected rather than silently interpreted with an unsafe scope. Loading non-empty file or session data written without this marker throws a RuntimeException until the data is deleted, regenerated, or correctly annotated. Versions before 7.15.1 are affected.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577? GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in guzzlehttp/guzzle (composer), affecting versions < 7.15.1. It is fixed in 7.15.1.
- How severe is GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577? GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). 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.
- Which versions of guzzlehttp/guzzle are affected by GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577? guzzlehttp/guzzle (composer) versions < 7.15.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577? Yes. GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 is fixed in 7.15.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-WM3W-8RRP-J577 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-WM3W-8RRP-J577 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-WM3W-8RRP-J577? Upgrade
guzzlehttp/guzzleto 7.15.1 or later.