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Grav has Insecure Deserialization in File Cache

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 27, 2026 in getgrav/grav • Updated May 5, 2026

Package

composer getgrav/grav (Composer)

Affected versions

< 2.0.0-beta.2

Patched versions

2.0.0-beta.2

Description

Insecure Deserialization in File Cache

  • Severity: High
  • CWE: CWE-502
  • Location: system/src/Grav/Framework/Cache/Adapter/FileCache.php
  • Sink: unserialize($value, ['allowed_classes' => true])

Affected version(s)

  • Affected: >= 1.7.44 and <= 1.7.49.5 (verified in current codebase and changelog-covered releases).
  • Fixed: No upstream fix identified in the reviewed branch at the time of analysis.
  • Notes: Earlier 1.7.x releases may also be affected, but were not fully back-traced in this review.

Notes

allowed_classes => true allows object instantiation and does not constrain classes.

PoC (Primitive Demonstration)

Preconditions

  • Local PHP runtime.
  • Goal is to validate the deserialization primitive used in cache retrieval.

Steps

php -r '
class CacheWakeup { public function __wakeup(){ file_put_contents("/tmp/grav_filecache_poc.txt", "wakeup"); } }

$payload = serialize(new CacheWakeup());
unserialize($payload, ["allowed_classes" => true]);

echo file_exists("/tmp/grav_filecache_poc.txt") ? "FILECACHE_UNSERIALIZE_TRIGGERED\n" : "FILECACHE_UNSERIALIZE_NOT_TRIGGERED\n";
'

Expected Result

  • Output contains: FILECACHE_UNSERIALIZE_TRIGGERED.

Interpretation

This reproduces the same unsafe primitive used by FileCache::doGet():
unserialize($value, ['allowed_classes' => true]).
If cache files are attacker-tampered, object magic methods may execute.

Exploit Preconditions

  • Cache file poisoning/tampering capability.

Recommendation

  • Avoid object deserialization in cache payloads.
  • Use non-object formats and integrity protection for cache files.

Maintainer note — fix applied (2026-04-24)

Fixed in Grav core on the 2.0 branch: commit c66dfeb5f — will ship in 2.0.0-beta.2.

What changed: Framework\Cache\Adapter\FileCache now HMAC-signs every cache payload with Security::getNonceKey() on write, and verifies the HMAC on read. Tampered, forged, or pre-upgrade files are treated as cache misses and unlinked instead of being unserialized. The on-disk format is now versioned:

v2
<expires>
<key>
<hmac-hex>
<serialized>

Existing caches rebuild transparently on first read. Note that Framework\Cache\Adapter\FileCache isn't wired into Grav's main cache path — Symfony's FilesystemAdapter is — but the class is reachable by plugin and downstream consumers, so the hardening applies defensively.

Files:

References

@rhukster rhukster published to getgrav/grav Apr 27, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 5, 2026
Reviewed May 5, 2026
Last updated May 5, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required Low
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Deserialization of Untrusted Data

The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-gwfr-jfjf-92vv

Source code

Credits

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