{"id":"CVE-2021-21274","aliases":["DEBIAN-CVE-2021-21274","EUVD-2021-0124","GHSA-2hwx-mjrm-v3g8","PYSEC-2021-132","UBUNTU-CVE-2021-21274"],"status":"published","title":"Denial of service attack via .well-known lookups","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-11","score":0.02164,"percentile":0.82469,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"published":"2021-02-26T17:25:16Z","modified":"2026-10-20T10:54:27Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"matrix-synapse","fixed_in":["1.25.0"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"matrix-synapse","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0.99.0"},{"fixed":"1.25.0"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"matrix-synapse","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0.99.0"},{"fixed":"1.25.0"}]}],"versions":["0.99.0","0.99.1","0.99.1.1","0.99.1rc1","0.99.1rc2","0.99.2","0.99.2rc1","0.99.3","0.99.3.1","0.99.3.2","0.99.3rc1","0.99.4","0.99.4rc1","0.99.5","0.99.5.1","0.99.5.2","0.99.5rc1","1.0.0","1.0.0rc1","1.0.0rc2","1.0.0rc3","1.1.0","1.1.0rc1","1.1.0rc2","1.10.0","1.10.0rc1","1.10.0rc2","1.10.0rc3","1.10.0rc5","1.10.1","1.11.0","1.11.0rc1","1.11.1","1.12.0","1.12.0rc1","1.12.1","1.12.1rc1","1.12.2","1.12.3","1.12.4","1.12.4rc1","1.13.0","1.13.0rc1","1.13.0rc2","1.13.0rc3","1.14.0","1.14.0rc1","1.14.0rc2","1.15.0","1.15.0rc1","1.15.1","1.15.2","1.16.0","1.16.0rc1","1.16.0rc2","1.16.1","1.17.0","1.17.0rc1","1.18.0","1.18.0rc1","1.18.0rc2","1.19.0","1.19.0rc1","1.19.1","1.19.1rc1","1.19.2","1.19.3","1.2.0","1.2.0rc1","1.2.0rc2","1.2.1","1.20.0","1.20.0rc1","1.20.0rc2","1.20.0rc3","1.20.0rc4","1.20.0rc5","1.20.1","1.21.0","1.21.0rc1","1.21.0rc2","1.21.0rc3","1.21.1","1.21.2","1.22.0","1.22.0rc1","1.22.0rc2","1.22.1","1.23.0","1.23.0rc1","1.23.1","1.24.0","1.24.0rc1","1.24.0rc2","1.25.0rc1","1.3.0","1.3.0rc1","1.3.1","1.4.0","1.4.0rc1","1.4.0rc2","1.4.1","1.4.1rc1","1.5.0","1.5.0rc1","1.5.0rc2","1.5.1","1.6.0","1.6.0rc1","1.6.0rc2","1.6.1","1.7.0","1.7.0rc1","1.7.0rc2","1.7.1","1.7.2","1.7.3","1.8.0","1.8.0rc1","1.9.0","1.9.0.dev1","1.9.0.dev2","1.9.0rc1","1.9.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"matrix-synapse","ranges":[{"type":"GIT","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"ff5c4da1289cb5e097902b3e55b771be342c29d6"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0.99.0"},{"fixed":"1.25.0"}]}],"versions":["0.99.0","0.99.1","0.99.1.1","0.99.1rc1","0.99.1rc2","0.99.2","0.99.2rc1","0.99.3","0.99.3.1","0.99.3.2","0.99.3rc1","0.99.4","0.99.4rc1","0.99.5","0.99.5.1","0.99.5.2","0.99.5rc1","1.0.0","1.0.0rc1","1.0.0rc2","1.0.0rc3","1.1.0","1.1.0rc1","1.1.0rc2","1.10.0","1.10.0rc1","1.10.0rc2","1.10.0rc3","1.10.0rc5","1.10.1","1.11.0","1.11.0rc1","1.11.1","1.12.0","1.12.0rc1","1.12.1","1.12.1rc1","1.12.2","1.12.3","1.12.4","1.12.4rc1","1.13.0","1.13.0rc1","1.13.0rc2","1.13.0rc3","1.14.0","1.14.0rc1","1.14.0rc2","1.15.0","1.15.0rc1","1.15.1","1.15.2","1.16.0","1.16.0rc1","1.16.0rc2","1.16.1","1.17.0","1.17.0rc1","1.18.0","1.18.0rc1","1.18.0rc2","1.19.0","1.19.0rc1","1.19.1","1.19.1rc1","1.19.2","1.19.3","1.2.0","1.2.0rc1","1.2.0rc2","1.2.1","1.20.0","1.20.0rc1","1.20.0rc2","1.20.0rc3","1.20.0rc4","1.20.0rc5","1.20.1","1.21.0","1.21.0rc1","1.21.0rc2","1.21.0rc3","1.21.1","1.21.2","1.22.0","1.22.0rc1","1.22.0rc2","1.22.1","1.23.0","1.23.0rc1","1.23.1","1.24.0","1.24.0rc1","1.24.0rc2","1.25.0rc1","1.3.0","1.3.0rc1","1.3.1","1.4.0","1.4.0rc1","1.4.0rc2","1.4.1","1.4.1rc1","1.5.0","1.5.0rc1","1.5.0rc2","1.5.1","1.6.0","1.6.0rc1","1.6.0rc2","1.6.1","1.7.0","1.7.0rc1","1.7.0rc2","1.7.1","1.7.2","1.7.3","1.8.0","1.8.0rc1","1.9.0","1.9.0.dev1","1.9.0.dev2","1.9.0rc1","1.9.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS","package":"matrix-synapse","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["0.19.2+dfsg-6","0.24.0+dfsg-1","0.24.0+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm1","0.24.0+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm4"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS","package":"matrix-synapse","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["1.3.0-1","1.4.0-1","1.5.0-1","1.5.1-1","1.6.0-1","1.6.1-1","1.7.0-2","1.7.1-1","1.7.2-1","1.7.3-1","1.8.0-1","1.9.0-1","1.9.1-1","1.10.0-1","1.10.0-2","1.11.0-1","1.11.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"]}],"products":[{"vendor":"element-hq","product":"synapse"},{"vendor":"fedoraproject","product":"fedora"},{"vendor":"matrix","product":"synapse"},{"vendor":"matrix-org","product":"synapse"}],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/security/advisories/GHSA-2hwx-mjrm-v3g8","tags":["x_refsource_CONFIRM","x_transferred","Patch","Third Party Advisory","fix","web","advisory","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/releases/tag/v1.25.0","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Third Party Advisory","advisory","web","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/8950","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Patch","Third Party Advisory","fix","web","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/commit/ff5c4da1289cb5e097902b3e55b771be342c29d6","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Patch","Third Party Advisory","fix","web","report"]},{"url":"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TNNAJOZNMVMXM6AS7RFFKB4QLUJ4IFEY/","tags":["vendor-advisory","x_refsource_FEDORA","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21274","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/matrix-synapse/PYSEC-2021-132.yaml","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TNNAJOZNMVMXM6AS7RFFKB4QLUJ4IFEY","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2hwx-mjrm-v3g8"},{"url":"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-21274","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse","tags":["package"]},{"url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-21274","tags":["report"]},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21274","tags":["report"]}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2021-21274","title":"Denial of service attack via .well-known lookups","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T17:25:16Z","modified":"2024-08-03T18:09:15.07Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-400"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:33:00.137099Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2021-0124","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T17:25:16Z","modified":"2024-08-03T18:09:15Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T03:25:06.913643Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-2hwx-mjrm-v3g8","title":"Denial of service attack via .well-known lookups","description":"### Impact\nA malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver.\n\nThis affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers.\n\n### Patches\nIssue is resolved by #8950. A bug not affecting the security aspects of this was fixed in #9108.\n\n### Workarounds\nThe `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-03-01T19:34:54Z","modified":"2024-09-30T20:23:56Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"},{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:38:07.852618Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2021-21274","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T18:15:12.237Z","modified":"2026-06-17T03:35:10.33Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":6.5,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium","assessor":"primary"},{"version":"2.0","score":4.3,"vector":"AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P","level":"medium","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:06:50.399901Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"CVE-2021-21274","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T18:15:12.237Z","modified":"2026-10-20T10:54:27.913971945Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":6.5,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:44:18.004149Z"},{"id":"DEBIAN-CVE-2021-21274","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"withdrawn","published":"2021-02-26T18:15:12.237Z","modified":"2026-08-11T20:49:51.474679696Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":6.5,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:45:34.637046Z"},{"id":"GHSA-2hwx-mjrm-v3g8","title":"Denial of service attack via .well-known lookups","description":"### Impact\nA malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver.\n\nThis affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers.\n\n### Patches\nIssue is resolved by #8950. A bug not affecting the security aspects of this was fixed in #9108.\n\n### Workarounds\nThe `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-03-01T19:34:54Z","modified":"2026-09-10T03:49:14.211839612Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium"},{"version":"4.0","score":5.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:34.338541Z"},{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2021-21274","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T18:15:00Z","modified":"2025-09-08T16:46:57Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.3,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L","level":"medium"},{"version":"3.1","score":6.5,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:54:26.29421Z"},{"id":"PYSEC-2021-132","description":"Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, a malicious homeserver could redirect requests to their .well-known file to a large file. This can lead to a denial of service attack where homeservers will consume significantly more resources when requesting the .well-known file of a malicious homeserver. This affects any server which accepts federation requests from untrusted servers. Issue is resolved in version 1.25.0. As a workaround the `federation_domain_whitelist` setting can be used to restrict the homeservers communicated with over federation.","status":"published","published":"2021-02-26T18:15:00Z","modified":"2023-11-08T04:04:39.864718Z","updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:52:52.682031Z"}]}}