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Medium

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the password reset endpoint

  • Disclosed: 26.03.2021
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:19

Impact

The password reset endpoint served via Synapse was vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. The impact depends on the configuration of the domain that Synapse is deployed on, but may allow access to cookies and other browser data, CSRF vulnerabilities, and access to other resources served on the same domain or parent domains.

Patches

This is fixed in #9200.

Workarounds

Depending on the needs and configuration of the homeserver a few options are available:

  1. Password resets can be disabled by delegating email to a third-party service (via the account_threepid_delegates.email setting) or disabling email (by not configuring the email setting).

  2. If the homeserver is not configured to use passwords (via the password_config.enabled setting) then the affected endpoint can be blocked at a reverse proxy:

    • /_synapse/client/password_reset/email/submit_token

  3. The password_reset_confirmation.html template can be overridden with a custom template that manually escapes the variables using JInja2's escape filter. See the email.template_dir setting.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) matrix-synapse < 1.27.0 1.27.0

References

CVSS score 6.9/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-79
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
matrix-synapse
Disclosed
26.03.2021
Updated
11.10.2026 13:19

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2021-133 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-246w-56m2-5899 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: matrix-synapse

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (45) in the archive
Total entries
45
First → latest
03.2019 05.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 21
  • Medium 21
  • Low 3

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Synapse CPU starvation (Denial of Service)
    High · 5.5 CVE-2026-45078 < 1.152.1 1.152.1
  2. Synapse vulnerable to federation denial of service via malformed events
    High · 7.1 CVE-2025-30355 < 1.127.1 1.127.1
  3. Synapse can be forced to thumbnail unexpected file formats, invoking external, potentially untrustworthy decoders
    High CVE-2024-53863 < 1.120.1 1.120.1
  4. Synapse allows a a malformed invite to break the invitee's `/sync`
    High CVE-2024-52815 < 1.120.1 1.120.1
  5. Synapse allows unsupported content types to lead to memory exhaustion
    High CVE-2024-52805 < 1.120.1 1.120.1
  6. Synapse denial of service through media disk space consumption
    High · 7.5 CVE-2024-37302 < 1.106 1.106
  7. Synapse Denial of service due to incorrect application of event authorization rules during state resolution
    High · 6.5 CVE-2022-39374 >= 1.62.0, < 1.68.0rc1 1.68.0rc1
  8. Synapse does not apply enough checks to servers requesting auth events of events in a room
    High · 5.0 CVE-2022-39335 < 1.69.0 1.69.0
  9. Denial of service due to incorrect application of event authorization rules
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-31152 < 1.62.0rc1 1.62.0rc1
  10. URL previews of unusual or maliciously-crafted pages can crash Synapse media repositories or Synapse monoliths
    High · 6.5 CVE-2022-31052 < 1.61.1 1.61.1
  11. Matrix Synapse DoS
    High · 7.5 CVE-2018-10657 < 0.28.1 0.28.1
  12. Matrix Synapse Improper Signature Validation
    High · 8.8 CVE-2018-16515 >= 0.33.3, < 0.33.3.1, < 0.33.2.1 0.33.3.1, 0.33.2.1
  13. Matrix Synapse Authorization Error
    High · 7.5 CVE-2018-12423 < 0.31.2 0.31.2
  14. Matrix Synapse Security Filtering Flaw
    High · 7.5 CVE-2018-12291 < 0.31.1 0.31.1
  15. Path traversal in Matrix Synapse
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-41281 < 1.47.1 1.47.1
  16. Open redirect via transitional IPv6 addresses on dual-stack networks
    High · 6.3 CVE-2021-21392 < 1.28.0rc1 1.28.0rc1
  17. Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the password reset endpoint this entry
    Medium · 6.9 CVE-2021-21332 < 1.27.0 1.27.0
  18. Denial of service attack via incorrect parameters in Matrix Synapse
    High · 6.5 CVE-2020-26257 < 1.23.1 1.23.1
  19. Denial of service attack due to invalid JSON
    High · 7.5 CVE-2020-26890 < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  20. Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in matrix-synapse
    High · 8.6 CVE-2019-18835 < 1.5.0 1.5.0
Show more (2) Showing 20 of 22

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