Like all web-based solutions, applications built with Symfony are exposed to various cyber threats, and you should be ready to address them to make your website or app secure. After all, if hackers are able to gain access to your corporate and user data through your Symfony solution, you risk losing business reputation, which is extremely challenging to recover.
In this article, Symfony experts from Itransition highlight the common security threats for Symfony-based solutions and provide three tips to help you mitigate them.
What threats pose a risk for your Symfony solution?
The cyber risk landscape constantly expands, with new threats emerging almost daily. Here are the main types of threats that Symfony solutions are exposed to:
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
XSS attacks enable hackers to inject malicious scripts into the pages of Symfony websites or apps. When a user visits such an infected webpage, he or she becomes exposed to malicious code, which enables attackers to steal their login credentials or get access to a user’s device. In its 2024 report, Edgescan rated XSS a critical security threat and revealed that an average XSS attack requires 100 man-days for remediation.
- Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
During a CSRF attack, an attacker tricks a user into submitting a malicious web request to a Symfony website or app in order to perform some unwanted action unintentionally, such as changing a password, making a purchase, or altering other users’ permissions. In 2023, MITRE Corporation had ranked CSRF as the 9th most dangerous software security risk, but just a year later it moved CSRF up to the 4th position.
SQL injection is another hacker attack technique, which can be used by a malefactor to penetrate a website or app database. According to MONITORAPP, SQL injection is one of the most common types of hacker attacks – the company has detected over 3,800,000 attacks in December 2024 alone.
Obviously, you should not consider this list as ultimate, as there are other types of threats, with server-side template injections and host header attacks among the examples. To learn more about the risks that can compromise the security of your particular web solution, consider consulting with Symfony experts.
How can you protect a Symfony solution from cyber threats?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to securing Symfony solutions, which means you should implement a set of practices to minimize the risk of a successful attack.
- Leveraging Symfony’s in-built security solutions
The Symfony framework offers several components and tools that your team members can use to ensure the security of your solution. Symfony’s Security Component, for instance, can be used to establish a full-fledged security system for your company’s web software. The Security Component is divided into several smaller subcomponents, each serving a specific purpose.
Some of these subcomponents allow teams to quickly implement common security mechanisms in the solution, from authentication and authorization to password encoding. Others can be used to secure different parts of the app via firewalls and build a “line of defense” against XSS attacks. There are also subcomponents enabling teams to implement anti-CSRF tokens to prevent CSRF attacks.
While teams can use these and other Symfony’s in-built security components and tools separately, we recommend implementing them in conjunction. This way, your team can quickly ensure all-round robust security for your Symfony-based solution and prevent the majority of cyber attacks.
- Complementing your Symfony stack with third-party tools
Although Symfony provides a robust security toolset by default, teams can complement it with third-party tooling resources to get access to additional security functionalities and further strengthen the defense mechanisms of their websites and apps. All your team has to do is to install one of the publicly available Symfony security bundles (no fees required, they are distributed free of charge), install the bundle, and configure it.
Some of these bundles, such as SchebTwoFactorBundle, can provide two-factor authentication for your Symfony websites and apps, which can help you establish an additional layer of protection against unauthorized access. Others, such as Symfony Health Check Bundle, can assist teams with identifying performance issues across their systems and detecting security vulnerabilities timely.
There are also bundles, such as SpecShaper Encrypt Bundle or DoctrineEncryptBundle, enabling teams to implement data encryption in their Symfony applications to protect sensitive user data (names, addresses, etc.) from malicious use in case hackers gain access to it. In the event of a successful attack, these free bundles can save you millions of dollars in costs, as, according to IBM’s report, the average cost of a data breach has grown up to $4.88 million in 2024.
- Conducting security audits regularly
Among other things, you should remember that maintaining Symfony app security is a continuous process rather than a one-time event. Thus, you should constantly evaluate your solution in terms of cyber risks and threats to ensure that it can withstand both known and new types of threats. In this context, conducting comprehensive security audits at least twice a year is critical.
Before conducting such an audit, your team should study with the current landscape of web cyber threats specific to your industry and business niche. Then, they need to conduct comprehensive security testing, including the review of the solution’s architecture, underlying code, software dependencies, etc. to determine whether it can withstand these threats. If the audit reveals any software bugs or vulnerabilities, your team should implement specific measures to mitigate them.
Final thoughts
If you are planning to follow the examples of Spotify, Google, and other companies and develop your own Symfony solution, make sure to protect it from various cyber threats. Otherwise, you risk compromising corporate and user data, which can cause business disruption, reputational losses, and other severe consequences. By following the practices listed in this article, you can significantly strengthen the security of your Symfony-based solution.
Nonetheless, we recommend additionally consulting Symfony experts about app security enablement, especially if your in-house team is not experienced enough. Third-party experts can share more specific, valuable practices to help you maximize your solution’s security. If needed, they can also help you build a secure Symfony solution by assisting your team with software design, coding, testing, and other tasks.
About the Author
Roman Davydov is the Technology Observer at Itransition. He has over five years of experience in the IT industry. Roman monitors and analyzes the latest technology trends, helping businesses make informed software decisions that align with their strategic goals. Roman can be reached online at [email protected], Linkedin, and at our company website https://www.itransition.com/
