CVE-2018-15133 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in laravel/framework. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-01-16) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for laravel/framework — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Laravel Framework RCE Vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-01-16. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2024-02-06.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2018-15133.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2018-15133 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
laravel/framework🐘laravel/frameworkReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In Laravel Framework through 5.5.40 and 5.6.x through 5.6.29, remote code execution might occur as a result of an unserialize call on a potentially untrusted X-XSRF-TOKEN value. This involves the decrypt method in Illuminate/Encryption/Encrypter.php and PendingBroadcast in gadgetchains/Laravel/RCE/3/chain.php in phpggc. The attacker must know the application key, which normally would never occur, but could happen if the attacker previously had privileged access or successfully accomplished a previous attack.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | laravel/framework | all versions | No fix |
| 🐘Packagist | laravel/framework | ≥ 5.6.0&&< 5.6.30 | 5.6.30composer require laravel/framework:^5.6.30 |
Affected Products
laravellaravelResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
PHP Laravel Framework 5.5.40 / 5.6.x < 5.6.30 - token Unserialize Remote Command Execution (Metasploit)
by Metasploit · Jul 16, 2019
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for laravel/framework, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
No patched version of laravel/framework has shipped for CVE-2018-15133 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-15133 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.