CVE-2024-51736 is a none-severity (CVSS 0) CWE-77 vulnerability in symfony/process. A fix is available for symfony/process — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Command execution hijack on Windows with Process class in symfony/process
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-51736.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
symfony/process🐘symfony/process🐘symfony/process🐘symfony/symfony🐘symfony/symfony🐘symfony/symfonyReal-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
Description
On Windows, when an executable file named cmd.exe is located in the current working directory it will be called by the Process class when preparing command arguments, leading to possible hijacking.
Resolution
The Process class now uses the absolute path to cmd.exe.
The patch for this issue is available here for branch 5.4.
Credits
We would like to thank Jordi Boggiano for reporting the issue and Nicolas Grekas for providing the fix.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/process | all versions | 5.4.46composer require symfony/process:^5.4.46 |
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/process | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.4.14 | 6.4.14composer require symfony/process:^6.4.14 |
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/process | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.1.7 | 7.1.7composer require symfony/process:^7.1.7 |
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/symfony | all versions | 5.4.46composer require symfony/symfony:^5.4.46 |
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/symfony | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.4.14 | 6.4.14composer require symfony/symfony:^6.4.14 |
| 🐘Packagist | symfony/symfony | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.1.7 | 7.1.7composer require symfony/symfony:^7.1.7 |
Affected Products
symfonysensiolabsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for symfony/process, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update symfony/process to 5.4.46 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-51736 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-51736 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.