CVE-2020-26890: Input Validation
Impact A denial of service attack against Matrix clients can be exploited by sending an event including invalid JSON data to Synapse. Synapse would relay the data to clients which could crash or hang. Impact is long-lasting if the event is made part of the room state.
Patches At a minimum #8106 and #8291 must be applied. #7372 and #8124 include additional checks.
Workarounds There are no known workarounds.
Upgrading notes If an invalid event is accepted by an earlier Synapse it can become part of the room state and will not be fixed by upgrading Synapse. Redacting the invalid event should avoid clients receiving the invalid event.
Other sources
Matrix Synapse before 1.20.0 erroneously permits non-standard NaN, Infinity, and -Infinity JSON values in fields of m.room.member events, allowing remote attackers to execute a denial of service attack against the federation and common Matrix clients. If such a malformed event is accepted into the room's state, the impact is long-lasting and is not fixed by an upgrade to a newer version, requiring the event to be manually redacted instead. Since events are replicated to servers of other room members, the impact is not constrained to the server of the event sender.
Affected Software
Remediation
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the vulnerability ID?
The vulnerability ID is CVE-2020-26890.
What is the severity of CVE-2020-26890?
The severity of CVE-2020-26890 is high, with a severity value of 7.5.
What software is affected by CVE-2020-26890?
Matrix Synapse versions up to 1.20.0, Fedora versions 32 and 33 are affected by CVE-2020-26890.
What is the impact of CVE-2020-26890?
CVE-2020-26890 allows remote attackers to execute a denial of service attack against the federation and common Matrix clients.
How can CVE-2020-26890 be fixed?
To fix CVE-2020-26890, it is recommended to upgrade to Matrix Synapse version 1.20.0 or later.