CVE-2023-42452: Mastodon vulnerable to Stored XSS through the translation feature
First published: Tue Sep 19 2023(Updated: )
Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In versions on the 4.x branch prior to versions 4.0.10, 4.2.8, and 4.2.0-rc2, under certain conditions, attackers can abuse the translation feature to bypass the server-side HTML sanitization, allowing unescaped HTML to execute in the browser. The impact is limited thanks to Mastodon's strict Content Security Policy, blocking inline scripts, etc. However a CSP bypass or loophole could be exploited to execute malicious XSS. Furthermore, it requires user interaction, as this can only occur upon clicking the “Translate” button on a malicious post. Versions 4.0.10, 4.2.8, and 4.2.0-rc2 contain a patch for this issue.
Credit: security-advisories@github.com
| Affected Software | Affected Version | How to fix |
|---|---|---|
| Mastodon | >=4.0.0<4.0.10 | |
| Mastodon | >=4.1.0<4.1.8 | |
| Mastodon | =4.2.0-beta1 | |
| Mastodon | =4.2.0-beta2 | |
| Mastodon | =4.2.0-beta3 | |
| Mastodon | =4.2.0-rc1 |
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Reference Links
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2023-42452?
CVE-2023-42452 is a vulnerability in the Mastodon social network server that allows attackers to bypass server-side HTML sanitization.
What is the severity of CVE-2023-42452?
The severity of CVE-2023-42452 is medium with a score of 5.4.
How does CVE-2023-42452 affect Mastodon?
CVE-2023-42452 affects Mastodon versions on the 4.x branch prior to versions 4.0.10, 4.2.8, and 4.2.0-rc2.
How can attackers exploit CVE-2023-42452?
Attackers can abuse the translation feature in affected versions of Mastodon to bypass HTML sanitization and execute unescaped HTML.
How can I fix CVE-2023-42452?
To fix CVE-2023-42452, it is recommended to update Mastodon to versions 4.0.10, 4.2.8, or 4.2.0-rc2 or later.
- agent/references
- agent/author
- agent/type
- agent/softwarecombine
- agent/title
- agent/weakness
- agent/remedy
- agent/severity
- agent/event
- agent/first-publish-date
- agent/description
- collector/mitre-cve
- source/MITRE
- agent/last-modified-date
- agent/source
- agent/tags
- collector/nvd-index
- agent/software-canonical-lookup-request
- collector/nvd-api
- vendor/joinmastodon
- canonical/mastodon
- version/mastodon/4.0.0
- version/mastodon/4.1.0
- version/mastodon/4.2.0-beta1
- version/mastodon/4.2.0-beta2
- version/mastodon/4.2.0-beta3
- version/mastodon/4.2.0-rc1