How severe is GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx?

GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx?

GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx affects the following packages: zendframework/zend-session (Packagist), zendframework/zend-session (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx?

Update zendframework/zend-session to 2.2.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx in my Packagist dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for zendframework/zend-session. 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.

How do I mitigate GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

When was GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx was published on June 7, 2024 and was last updated on December 4, 2024. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘 Packagist

GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx

MEDIUM

Zend-Session session validation vulnerability

Published

Jun 7, 2024

Updated

Dec 4, 2024

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Blast Radius

2 pkgs affected

🐘zendframework/zend-session🐘zendframework/zend-session

Real-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

Zend\Session session validators do not work as expected if set prior to the start of a session.

For instance, the following test case fails (where $this->manager is an instance of Zend\Session\SessionManager):

$this
    ->manager
    ->getValidatorChain()
    ->attach('session.validate', array(new RemoteAddr(), 'isValid'));

$this->manager->start();

$this->assertSame(
    array(
        'Zend\Session\Validator\RemoteAddr' =3D> '',
    ),
    $_SESSION['__ZF']['_VALID']
);

The implication is that subsequent calls to Zend\Session\SessionManager#start() (in later requests, assuming a session was created) will not have any validator metadata attached, which causes any validator metadata to be re-built from scratch, thus marking the session as valid.

An attacker is thus able to simply ignore session validators such as RemoteAddr or HttpUserAgent, since the "signature" that these validators check against is not being stored in the session.

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`zendframework/zend-session`	≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.2.9	2.2.9
🐘Packagist	`zendframework/zend-session`	≥ 2.3.0&&< 2.3.4	2.3.4

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for zendframework/zend-session. 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 zendframework/zend-session to 2.2.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx 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 GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx 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 GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

`Zend\Session` session validators do not work as expected if set prior to the start of a session. For instance, the following test case fails (where $this->manager is an instance of `Zend\Session\SessionManager`): ``` $this ->manager ->getValidatorChain() ->attach('session.validate', array(new RemoteAddr(), 'isValid')); $this->manager->start(); $this->assertSame( array( 'Zend\Session\Validator\RemoteAddr' =3D> '', ), $_SESSION['__ZF']['_VALID'] ); ``` The implication is that subsequent calls to `Zend\Session\SessionManager#start()` (in later requests, assumin

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-96c6-m98x-hxjx across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works