Matrix Synapse before 0.28.1 is prone to a denial of service flaw where malicious events…
Priority LOW 36CWE-20Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
Matrix Synapse before 0.28.1 is prone to a denial of service flaw where malicious events injected with depth = 2^63 - 1 render rooms unusable, related to federation/federation_base.py and handlers/message.py, as exploited in the wild in April 2018.
Why it matters now
EPSS 0.01494 74th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed matrix-synapse (PyPI): 0.28.1
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | matrix-synapse (PyPI) | before 0.28.1 | 0.28.1 | Patch available | GHSA-vmcc-4p4x-x7wg |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- matrix-synapse (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 0.28.1 Fixed in 0.28.1 Patch available GHSA-vmcc-4p4x-x7wg
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:matrix:synapse:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 0.28.1 | Vulnerable | matrix-org |
- cpe:2.3:a:matrix:synapse:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 0.28.1 Vulnerable ·matrix-org
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-vmcc-4p4x-x7wg matrix-synapse (PyPI) Fixed in 0.28.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-10657
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vmcc-4p4x-x7wg
References
Advisory 2
More matrix-org Synapse vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-15617 Synapse Outgoing federation to specific hosts can be disabled by sending malicious invites CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.0
- TI-2024-35327 Synapse allows a a malformed invite to break the invitee's `/sync` CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2019-13571 Matrix Synapse before 1.5.0 mishandles signature checking on some federation APIs. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-36056 Synapse can be forced to thumbnail unexpected file formats, invoking external, potentially untrustworthy decoders CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
- TI-2024-35318 Synapse allows unsupported content types to lead to memory exhaustion CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
- TI-2018-11846 Matrix Synapse before 0.33.3.1 allows remote attackers to spoof events and possibly have… CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2018-10657 · CVE Program
- CVE-2018-10657 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vmcc-4p4x-x7wg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2018-10657 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences