CVE-2026-109449 — Symfony: Unbounded Nesting in the Expression Parser Lets Untrusted Expressions Crash the Process
In Symfony Expression Language versions prior to 5.4.54, 6.4.48, 7.4.21, and 8.1.9, the parser of the ExpressionLanguage component built its node tree with no bound on its depth. An expression made of tens of thousands of nested unary operators, array literals, binary operators or property accesses crashed the PHP process, while the tree was being freed. #[Assert\ExpressionSyntax] passes the validated value to ExpressionLanguage::lint(), so an application validating expressions written by its users could be crashed by a single request, and so could any code parsing untrusted expressions. This issue affects symfony/expression-language through v5.4.53, v6.0.0-BETA1 through v6.4.47, v7.0.0-BETA1 through v7.4.20, and v8.0.0-BETA1 through v8.1.8.
Who exploits it and how urgent it is
A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.
How the score was calculated
- Technical severity (high)+6
- Automatable exploitation (SSVC)+3
The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.
CISA SSVC assessment CISA
Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.
Remediation
Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.
No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.
- Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Sensiolabs Symfony).
- The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
- No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
- Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (denial of service), errors and authentication anomalies.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensiolabs | Symfony | < v5.4.54≥ v6.0.0-BETA1 and < v6.4.48≥ v7.0.0-BETA1 and < v7.4.21≥ v8.0.0-BETA1 and < v8.1.9 | Vulnerable | CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.7 | CVSS 4.0 | High | — | — | 596c5446-0ce5-4ba2-aa66-48b3b757a647 via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| 8.7 | CVSS 4.0 | High | — | — | Checkmarx via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X (score shown at the top: 596c5446-0ce5-4ba2-aa66-48b3b757a647) Weakness MITRE
Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.
- Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
- Track CPU/memory spikes and availability drops correlated with request patterns.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first.
- 2026
- SSVC assessment updated
- Affected products added · sensiolabs/symfony
- Record published
- CVSS changed · 8.7
- Source status changed · → Received
- Record created in this database
- CVE published
Source activity
Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.
- 1× References added · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026
- 1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026
References
5 on the record
Elsewhere on this site
Related CVEs (same products)
- High CVE-2026-109413 Symfony: Unbounded Recursion in the YAML Inline Lexer Lets a Single Document Crash the Process 8h
- High CVE-2026-108082 Symfony: ReDoS in HeaderUtils::split() Reachable Through the Cache-Control Request Header 8h
- Medium CVE-2026-48784 Symfony: UrlGenerator Dot-Segment Encoding Skips Every Other Chained `../` or `./` → Generated URL Collapses Off-Route Under RFC 3986 Normalization Jul 14, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-48747 Symfony: Mailomat Mailer Webhook Parser Reads the HMAC Algorithm from the Request: Signature Algorithm Downgrade Jul 14, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-48760 Symfony: HtmlSanitizer URL Parser Deny Gates Underinclusive: Percent-Encoded BiDi Marks and Unicode Whitespace Bypass Visual-Spoofing Defense Jul 14, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-48761 Symfony: HtmlSanitizer UrlAttributeSanitizer Misses URL Attributes on <object>, <applet>, <iframe>, <img> and the URL Inside <meta http-equiv="refresh"> content Jul 14, 2026
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No FIRST EPSS score.
- No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record
Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-109449 is "Symfony: Unbounded Nesting in the Expression Parser Lets Untrusted Expressions Crash the Process", rated High. It affects Symfony (Sensiolabs); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 8.7 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.
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