CVE-2021-21424 | Prevent user enumeration using Guard or the new Authenticator-based Security

Symfony is a PHP framework for web and console applications and a set of reusable PHP components. The ability to enumerate users was possible without relevant permissions due to different handling depending on whether the user existed or not when attempting to use the switch users functionality. We now ensure that 403s are returned whether the user exists or not if a user cannot switch to a user or if the user does not exist. The patch for this issue is available for branch 3.4.

Published: 2021-05-13 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-21424 is rated Moderate Risk (47.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.71%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-21424

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-16 1.76% 1.71% -0.05%
2 2026-06-15 0.27% 1.76% +1.49%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.27% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-21424

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-21424

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-21424

GHSA-5pv8-ppvj-4h68 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: composer — Prevent user enumeration using Guard or the new Authenticator-based Security

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-21424

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-21424 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (symfony), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-21424
ubuntu low CVE-2021-21424 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (symfony), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 9, released 3, ignored 2, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-21424

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-21424

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sensiolabs symfony >= 2.8.0, < 3.4.48 cpe:2.3:a:sensiolabs:symfony:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sensiolabs symfony >= 4.0.0, < 4.4.23 cpe:2.3:a:sensiolabs:symfony:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sensiolabs symfony >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:sensiolabs:symfony:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-21424

URL Tags
https://github.com/symfony/symfony/commit/2a581d22cc621b33d5464ed65c4bc2057f72f011 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/symfony/symfony/security/advisories/GHSA-5pv8-ppvj-4h68 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/07/msg00014.html
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KENRNLB3FYXYGDWRBH2PDBOZZKOD7VY4/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/RH7TMM5CHQYBFFGXWRPJDPB3SKCZXI2M/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UC7BND775DVZDQT3RMGD2HVB2PKLJDJW/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VRUS2H2SSOQWNLBD35SKIWIDQEMV2PD3/
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