high CVSS 7.5

CVE-2026-45071·PHP vulnerability

Symfony is a PHP framework for web and console applications and a set of reusable PHP components. Prior to 5.4.52, 6.4.40, 7.4.12, and 8.0.12, Crawler::addXmlContent() set DOMDocument::$validateOnParse = true before loadXML(), re-enabling external entity resolution and allowing attacker-supplied XML to expand file:// entities such as local files. This issue is fixed in versions 5.4.52, 6.4.40, 7.4.12, and 8.0.12.

Severity
high
Software
PHP
Fixed in
8.0.12
Published
2026-07-14

Affected versions

From: 8.0.0

Until: 8.0.12

Fixed in: 8.0.12

How to fix this CVE

Update Symfony to version 8.0.12 or later to fix an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in the Crawler component. The vulnerable code enabled external entity resolution during XML parsing, allowing attackers to read arbitrary files from the server. Apply the security patch immediately if you are running Symfony 8.0.0 through 8.0.11.

sudo dnf check-update && sudo dnf update php

Defensia detects this vulnerability

What an exploitation attempt looks like

Sample log line indicative of exploitation attempts:

POST|GET requests containing XML payloads with entity definitions like '<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///'

WAF mitigation (if patching is not yet possible)

Add this rule to your WAF to block exploitation attempts while you schedule the patch. 

Implement WAF rules to block XML requests containing SYSTEM entity declarations or file:// protocol references. Example: Block requests matching regex pattern '<!ENTITY\s+\w+\s+SYSTEM\s+['\"]file://' in POST/PUT body content.

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check Symfony version: composer show symfony/symfony | grep -i version or grep -r '"version"' vendor/symfony/symfony/composer.json
  2. Identify if Crawler component is in use: grep -r 'Crawler' your-app/src/ or grep 'symfony/dom-crawler' composer.lock
  3. Search application logs for XXE payloads: grep -i 'file://' /var/log/apache2/access.log /var/log/nginx/access.log or check XML parsing errors in application logs
  4. Verify patch installation: composer show symfony/symfony should display version 8.0.12 or higher

FAQ

What is CVE-2026-45071?

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to read sensitive files from the server by injecting malicious XML entities through the Symfony Crawler component. The issue stems from improper DOM validation settings that re-enable external entity processing during XML parsing.

Is CVE-2026-45071 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and no public exploits are available.

What versions of PHP are affected by CVE-2026-45071?

Symfony versions 8.0.0 through 8.0.11 are affected. Symfony 5.4.x, 6.4.x, and 7.4.x versions prior to 5.4.52, 6.4.40, and 7.4.12 respectively are also vulnerable.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2026-45071?

Run 'composer show symfony/symfony' and confirm the version is 8.0.12 or later. If the version is between 8.0.0 and 8.0.11, your system is vulnerable.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2026-45071?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If Symfony is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2026-45071 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

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References

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