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TI-2026-51130 Aliases CVE-2026-72914

Mastodon: Exhausting data by an unauthenticated request to the admin retention API

Priority MEDIUM 40CWE-405Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-770.

Summary

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Prior to 4.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4, and 4.7.0-beta.1, the administrative statistics endpoints handled by Api::V1::Admin::MeasuresController and Api::V1::Admin::RetentionController checked authorization only after beginning expensive calculations. Anonymous callers could submit keys, start_at, and end_at parameters that caused long-running SQL queries in Admin::Metrics::Measure, Admin::Metrics::Retention, and Admin::Metrics::Dimension::BaseDimension, allowing repeated requests to exhaust server resources. This issue is fixed in versions 4.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4, and 4.7.0-beta.1.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00827 57th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed mastodon (mastodon): 4.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
mastodonmastodonbefore 4.4.21; 4.5.0-beta.1 to before 4.5.14; 4.6.0-beta.1 to before 4.6.44.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4Patch availableCNA
  • mastodon Vendormastodon Affected before 4.4.21; 4.5.0-beta.1 to before 4.5.14; 4.6.0-beta.1 to before 4.6.4 Fixed in 4.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:joinmastodon:mastodon:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——mastodon
  • cpe:2.3:a:joinmastodon:mastodon:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·mastodon

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA mastodon (mastodon) Fixed in 4.4.21, 4.5.14, 4.6.4

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-72914

References

Other 9

  • TI-2022-02004 Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts in mastodon/mastodon CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2025-34613 Mastodon e‑mail throttle misconfiguration allows unlimited email confirmations against unconfirmed emails CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2022-22936 Mastodon through 4.0.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (large Sidekiq pull… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2023-18301 Mastodon vulnerable to arbitrary file creation through media attachments CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2023-13359 Mastodon's blind LDAP injection in login allows the attacker to leak arbitrary attributes from LDAP database CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.7
  • TI-2024-16846 External OpenID Connect Account Takeover by E-Mail Change in mastodon CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.4
See all 52 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences