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Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Matrix Synapse

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Mar 31, 2022 in matrix-org/synapse • Updated Jul 6, 2023

Package

pip matrix-synapse (pip)

Affected versions

< 1.53.0

Patched versions

1.53.0

Description

Impact

Synapse before 1.52.0 with URL preview functionality enabled will attempt to generate URL previews for media stream URLs without properly limiting connection time. Connections will only be terminated after max_spider_size (default: 10M) bytes have been downloaded, which can in some cases lead to long-lived connections towards the streaming media server (for instance, Icecast).

This can cause excessive traffic and connections toward such servers if their stream URL is, for example, posted to a large room with many Synapse instances with URL preview enabled.

Patches

1.52.0 implements a timeout mechanism which will terminate URL preview connections after 30 seconds. Since generating URL previews for media streams is not supported and always fails, 1.53.0 additionally implements an allow list for content types for which Synapse will even attempt to generate a URL preview.

We recommend upgrading to 1.53.0 to fully resolve the issue.

Workarounds

Turn off URL preview functionality by setting url_preview_enabled: false in the Synapse configuration file.

References

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, e-mail us at security@matrix.org.

References

@dkasak dkasak published to matrix-org/synapse Mar 31, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 1, 2022
Reviewed Apr 1, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Nov 22, 2022
Last updated Jul 6, 2023

Severity

Moderate

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 v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS score

0.186%
(56th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2022-41952

GHSA ID

GHSA-4822-jvwx-w47h

Source code

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