Element Call reports full URLs of visited pages to analytics server
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-200.
Summary
Element Call is a native Matrix video conferencing application. Versions 0.5.17 through 0.19.3 report analytics data to a PostHog server, when configured to by a `posthog` key in config.json or by the `posthogApiHost` and `posthogApiKey` URL parameters. Several fields of this data (`$initial_person_info`, `$session_entry_url`, and `$current_url`) were found to contain the full URL of the user's visited page, including the fragment. Users of a standalone Element Call ‘SPA’ instance such as https://call.element.io may therefore have reported the full URLs of certain calls, including encryption passwords, to the configured PostHog server, potentially compromising the confidentiality of the calls to actors who could access both the PostHog analytics data and the encrypted media streams. The same issue is present in Element Call's embedded package, but in practice it does not impact applications using this package (including Element Web, Element Desktop, Element X iOS, and Element X Android) because they distribute encryption keys over Matrix rather than encoding a password in the URL. The issue is patched in Element Call 0.19.4. Some workarounds are available. Users may opt out of analytics in the 'Feedback' tab of Element Call's settings and create new links for future calls. Admins who host Element Call as a standalone application may disable PostHog analytics entirely by removing the `posthog` key from their deployment's config.json file.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| element-hq | element-call | 0.5.17 to before 0.19.4 | 0.19.4 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | @element-hq/element-call-embedded (npm) | 0.5.17 to before 0.19.4 | 0.19.4 | Patch available | GHSA-6vhh-4xw6-h2h2 |
- element-call Vendorelement-hq Affected 0.5.17 to before 0.19.4 Fixed in 0.19.4 Patch available CNA
- @element-hq/element-call-embedded (npm) Vendor— Affected 0.5.17 to before 0.19.4 Fixed in 0.19.4 Patch available GHSA-6vhh-4xw6-h2h2
Remediation
- Fix · CNA element-call (element-hq) Fixed in 0.19.4
- Fix · GHSA-6vhh-4xw6-h2h2 @element-hq/element-call-embedded (npm) Fixed in 0.19.4 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-48007
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-6vhh-4xw6-h2h2
References
More element-hq vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-35327 Synapse allows a a malformed invite to break the invitee's `/sync` CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- 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-2022-07650 Remote program execution with user interaction CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-19372 ESS Community Helm Chart has a weak server key generation method CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.2
- TI-2024-24814 Synapse denial of service through media disk space consumption CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-48007 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-48007 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-6vhh-4xw6-h2h2 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences