CVE-2024-28859 | Gadget chain in Symfony 1 due to vulnerable Swift Mailer dependency

Exp

Symfony1 is a community fork of symfony 1.4 with DIC, form enhancements, latest Swiftmailer, better performance, composer compatible and PHP 8 support. Symfony 1 has a gadget chain due to vulnerable Swift Mailer dependency that would enable an attacker to get remote code execution if a developer unserialize user input in his project. This vulnerability present no direct threat but is a vector that will enable remote code execution if a developper deserialize user untrusted data. Symfony 1 depends on Swift Mailer which is bundled by default in vendor directory in the default installation since 1.3.0. Swift Mailer classes implement some `__destruct()` methods. These methods are called when php destroys the object in memory. However, it is possible to include any object type in `$this->_keys` to make PHP access to another array/object properties than intended by the developer. In particular, it is possible to abuse the array access which is triggered on foreach($this->_keys ...) for any class implementing ArrayAccess interface. This may allow an attacker to execute any PHP command which leads to remote code execution. This issue has been addressed in version 1.5.18. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Published: 2024-03-15 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-28859 is rated Exploit Available (56.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.49%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2024-28859

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-28859

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 2026-06-15 5.11% 1.49% -3.62%
2 2026-04-03 3.96% 5.11% +1.14%
3 2025-12-18 — 3.96% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-28859

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.6 3.4 [email protected]
9.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.2 6.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-28859

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-28859

GHSA-wjv8-pxr6-5f4r · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: composer — Gadget chain in Symfony 1 due to vulnerable Swift Mailer dependency

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-28859

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
friendsofsymfony1 symfony1 >= 1.3.0, < 1.5.18 cpe:2.3:a:friendsofsymfony1:symfony1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-28859

cvelogic Threat Intelligence