GHSA-v936-j8gp-9q3p CVE-2021-21273 PYSEC-2021-131
Open redirects on some federation and push requests
- Severity
- 0.0 / 10
- Low · CVSS 4.0
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 1.80%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 78.50% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-601 URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
- Fix
1.25.0- Upgrade matrix-synapse to this version or later
Description
Impact
Requests to user provided domains were not restricted to external IP addresses when calculating the key validity for third-party invite events and sending push notifications. This could cause Synapse to make requests to internal infrastructure. The type of request was not controlled by the user, although limited modification of request bodies was possible.
For the most thorough protection server administrators should remove the deprecated federation_ip_range_blacklist from their settings after upgrading to Synapse v1.25.0 which will result in Synapse using the improved default IP address restrictions. See the new ip_range_blacklist and ip_range_whitelist settings if more specific control is necessary.
Patches
Issue is resolved by #8821. Further improvements to protect homeservers by default were made in #8870 and #8954.
Workarounds
Requests to internal IP addresses could be blocked at the system or network level.
Affected versions
PyPI
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| matrix-synapse | < 1.25.0 |
1.25.0 |
| matrix-synapse | < 1.25.0 |
1.25.0 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
matrix-synapse PyPI → 1.25.0
- pip
pip install --upgrade "matrix-synapse>=1.25.0"- poetry
poetry add "matrix-synapse>=1.25.0"- uv
uv add "matrix-synapse>=1.25.0"
Severity breakdown
CVSS 4.0 0.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- None
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- None
- Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
- None
- Integrity (subsequent systems)
- None
- Availability (subsequent systems)
- None
CVSS 3.1 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Weakness
CWE-601: URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
The web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a redirect.
How to prevent it
- Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright. Use a list of approved URLs or domains to be used for redirection.
- Architecture and Design: Use an intermediate disclaimer page that provides the user with a clear warning that they are leaving the current site. Implement a long timeout before the redirect occurs, or force the user to click on the link. Be careful to avoid XSS problems (CWE-79) when generating the disclaimer page.
- Architecture and Design: When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs. For example, ID 1 could map to "/login.asp" and ID 2 could map to "http://www.example.com/". Features such as the ESAPI AccessReferenceMap [REF-45] provide this capability.
- Architecture and Design: Ensure that no externally-supplied requests are honored by requiring that all redirect requests include a unique nonce generated by the application [REF-483]. Be sure that the nonce is not predictable (CWE-330).
- Architecture and Design, Implementation: Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide data to the application. Remember that such inputs may be obtained indirectly through API calls. Many open redirect problems occur because the programmer assumed that certain inputs could not be modified, such as cookies and hidden form fields.
- Operation: Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth [REF-1481].
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
- github.com/matrix-org/synapse/security/advisories/GHSA-v936-j8gp-9q3p
- github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/8821
- github.com/matrix-org/synapse/commit/30fba6210834a4ecd91badf0c8f3eb278b72e746
- github.com/matrix-org/synapse/releases/tag/v1.25.0
- github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/matrix-synapse/PYSEC-2021-131…
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TNNAJ…
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-6qf2-7x63-mm6v Synapse pagination Denial of Service | Low | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-8q93-326v-3m7g Synapse CPU starvation (Denial of Service) | Medium | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-fh66-fcv5-jjfr Synapse's invalid device keys degrade federation functionality | Medium | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-v56r-hwv5-mxg6 Synapse vulnerable to federation denial of service via malformed events | High | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-56w4-5538-8v8h Synapse Matrix has a partial room state leak via Sliding Sync | Medium | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-vp6v-whfm-rv3g Synapse can be forced to thumbnail unexpected file formats, invoking external, potentially untrustworthy decoders | Critical | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-f3r3-h2mq-hx2h Synapse allows a a malformed invite to break the invitee's `/sync` | Medium | Also affects matrix-synapse |
| GHSA-rfq8-j7rh-8hf2 Synapse allows unsupported content types to lead to memory exhaustion | High | Also affects matrix-synapse |
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