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Low GHSA-g2qj-pmxm-9f8f

User enumeration in authentication mechanisms

Published May 17, 2021 · Updated Dec 2, 2024 · Assigned by GHSA

Description

Description
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The ability to enumerate users was possible without relevant permissions due to different exception messages depending on whether the user existed or not. It was also possible to enumerate users by using a timing attack, by comparing time elapsed when authenticating an existing user and authenticating a non-existing user.

Resolution
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We now ensure that 403s are returned whether the user exists or not if the password is invalid or if the user does not exist.

The patch for this issue is available [here](https://github.com/symfony/symfony/commit/2a581d22cc621b33d5464ed65c4bc2057f72f011) for branch 3.4.

Credits
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I would like to thank James Isaac and Mathias Brodala for reporting the issue and Robin Chalas for fixing the issue.

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Packagist symfony/security-http >= 5.1.0, < 5.2.8 5.2.8 GHSA-g2qj-pmxm-9f8f
Packagist symfony/symfony >= 5.1.0, < 5.2.8 5.2.8 GHSA-g2qj-pmxm-9f8f

References