CVE-2020-35239
HIGHCVE-2020-35239 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in cakephp/cakephp. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-35239 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
CakePHP allows method override parameters to bypass CSRF checks
Blast Radius
cakephp/cakephp🐘cakephp/cakephpReal-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
A vulnerability exists in CakePHP versions 4.0.x through 4.1.3. The CsrfProtectionMiddleware component allows method override parameters to bypass CSRF checks by changing the HTTP request method to an arbitrary string that is not in the list of request methods that CakePHP checks. Additionally, the route middleware does not verify that this overriden method (which can be an arbitrary string) is actually an HTTP method.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | cakephp/cakephp | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.0.10 | 4.0.10 |
| 🐘Packagist | cakephp/cakephp | ≥ 4.1.0&&< 4.1.4 | 4.1.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for cakephp/cakephp. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update cakephp/cakephp to 4.0.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-35239 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-35239 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-35239. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-35239 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-35239 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.