Mastodon may allow unconfirmed FASP to make subscriptions

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. FASP registration requires manual approval by an administrator. In versions 4.4.0 through 4.4.13 and 4.5.0 through 4.5.6, actions performed by a FASP to subscribe to account/content lifecycle events or to backfill content did not check properly whether the FASP was actually approved. This only affects Mastodon servers that have opted in to testing the experimental FASP feature by setting the environment variable `EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES` to a value including `fasp`. An attacker can make subscriptions and request content backfill without approval by an administrator. Done once, this leads to minor information leak of URIs that are publicly available anyway. But done several times this is a serious vector for DOS, putting pressure on the sidekiq worker responsible for the `fasp` queue. The fix is included in the 4.4.14 and 4.5.7 releases. Admins that are actively testing the experimental "fasp" feature should update their systems. Servers not using the experimental feature flag `fasp` are not affected.

Mastodon has a GET-Based Open Redirect via '/web/%2F<domain>'

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Prior to versions 4.5.8, 4.4.15, and 4.3.21, an unauthenticated Open Redirect vulnerability (CWE-601) exists in the `/web/*` route due to improper handling of URL-encoded path segments. An attacker can craft a specially encoded URL that causes the application to redirect users to an arbitrary external domain, enabling phishing attacks and potential OAuth credential theft. The issue occurs because URL-encoded slashes (`%2F`) bypass Rails path normalization and are interpreted as host-relative redirects. Versions 4.5.8, 4.4.15, and 4.3.21 patch the issue.

Mastodon has a denial of service for quote authorization

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In versions on the 4.5.x branch prior to 4.5.8 and on the 4.4.x branch prior to 4.4.15, an attacker that knows of a quote before it has reached a server can prevent it from being correctly processed on that server. The vulnerability has been patched in Mastodon 4.5.8 and 4.4.15. Mastodon 4.3 and earlier are not affected because they do not support quotes.

Mastodon Error Handling Discrepancy Enables Private Status Existence Enumeration

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Versions 4.2.27 and prior, 4.3.0-beta.1 through 4.3.14, 4.4.0-beta.1 through 4.4.9, 4.5.0-beta.1 through 4.5.2 have discrepancies in error handling which allow checking whether a given status exists by sending a request with a non-English Accept-Language header. Using this behavior, an attacker who knows the identifier of a particular status they are not allowed to see can confirm whether this status exists or not. This cannot be used to learn the contents of the status or any other property besides its existence. This issue is fixed in versions 4.2.28, 4.3.15, 4.4.10 and 4.5.3.

Mastodon quotes control can be bypassed

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In Mastodon version 4.4, support for verifiable quote posts with quote controls was added, but it is possible for an attacker to bypass these controls in Mastodon versions prior to 4.4.8 and 4.5.0-beta.2. Mastodon internally treats reblogs as statuses. Since they were not special-treated, an attacker could reblog any post, then quote their reblog, technically quoting themselves, but having the quote feature a preview of the post they did not get authorization for with all of the affordances that would be otherwise denied by the quote controls. This issue has been patched in versions 4.4.8 and 4.5.0-beta.2.

Mastadon streaming server allows OAuth clients without the `read` scope to subscribe to public channels

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In Mastodon before 4.4.6, 4.3.14, and 4.2.27, the streaming server accepts serving events for public timelines to clients using any valid authentication token, even if those tokens lack the read:statuses scope. This allows OAuth clients without the read scope to subscribe to public channels and receive public timeline events. The impact is limited, as this only affects new public posts published on the public timelines and requires an otherwise valid token, but this may lead to unexpected access to public posts in a limited-federation setting. This issue has been patched in versions 4.4.6, 4.3.14, and 4.2.27. No known workarounds exist.

Mastodon streaming API fails to disconnect disabled and suspended users

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In versions before 4.4.6, 4.3.14, and 4.2.27, disabling or suspending a user account does not disconnect the account from the streaming API. This allows disabled or suspended accounts to continue receiving real-time updates through existing streaming connections and to establish new streaming connections, even though they cannot interact with other API endpoints. This undermines moderation actions, as administrators expect disabled or suspended accounts to be fully disconnected from the service. This issue has been patched in versions 4.4.6, 4.3.14, and 4.2.27. No known workarounds exist.

Mastodon allows continued access after password reset via CLI

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. In Mastodon before 4.4.6, 4.3.14, and 4.2.27, when an administrator resets a user account's password via the command-line interface using `bin/tootctl accounts modify --reset-password`, active sessions and access tokens for that account are not revoked. This allows an attacker with access to a previously compromised session or token to continue using the account after the password has been reset. This issue has been patched in versions 4.2.27, 4.3.14, and 4.4.6. No known workarounds exist.

Mastodon e‑mail throttle misconfiguration allows unlimited email confirmations against unconfirmed emails

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub Mastodon which facilitates LDAP configuration for authentication. In versions 3.1.5 through 4.2.24, 4.3.0 through 4.3.11 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.3, Mastodon's rate-limiting system has a critical configuration error where the email-based throttle for confirmation emails incorrectly checks the password reset path instead of the confirmation path, effectively disabling per-email limits for confirmation requests. This allows attackers to bypass rate limits by rotating IP addresses and send unlimited confirmation emails to any email address, as only a weak IP-based throttle (25 requests per 5 minutes) remains active. The vulnerability enables denial-of-service attacks that can overwhelm mail queues and facilitate user harassment through confirmation email spam. This is fixed in versions 4.2.24, 4.3.11 and 4.4.3.

Mastodon has improper authorship check on audience extension for existing posts

Mastodon is a self-hosted, federated microblogging platform. Starting in version 2.6.0 and prior to versions 4.1.18 and 4.2.10, by crafting specific activities, an attacker can extend the audience of a post they do not own to other Mastodon users on a target server, thus gaining access to the contents of a post not intended for them. Versions 4.1.18 and 4.2.10 contain a patch for this issue.

Mastodon's rate-limits are missing on `/auth/setup`

Mastodon is a self-hosted, federated microblogging platform. Starting in version 4.2.0 and prior to versions 4.2.16 and 4.3.4, the rate limits are missing on `/auth/setup`. Without those rate limits, an attacker can craft requests that will send an email to an arbitrary addresses. Versions 4.2.16 and 4.3.4 fix the issue.

Mastodon's domain blocks & rationales ignore user approval when visibility set as "users"

Mastodon is a self-hosted, federated microblogging platform. In versions prior to 4.1.23, 4.2.16, and 4.3.4, when the visibility for domain blocks/reasons is set to "users" (localized English string: "To logged-in users"), users that are not yet approved can view the block reasons. Instance admins that do not want their domain blocks to be public are impacted. Versions 4.1.23, 4.2.16, and 4.3.4 fix the issue.

Mastodon Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerability

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Starting in version 4.2.0-beta1 and prior to version 4.2.0-rc2, by crafting specific input, attackers can inject arbitrary data into HTTP requests issued by Mastodon. This can be used to perform confused deputy attacks if the server configuration includes `ALLOWED_PRIVATE_ADDRESSES` to allow access to local exploitable services. Version 4.2.0-rc2 has a patch for the issue.

External OpenID Connect Account Takeover by E-Mail Change in mastodon

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Mastodon allows new identities from configured authentication providers (CAS, SAML, OIDC) to attach to existing local users with the same e-mail address. This results in a possible account takeover if the authentication provider allows changing the e-mail address or multiple authentication providers are configured. When a user logs in through an external authentication provider for the first time, Mastodon checks the e-mail address passed by the provider to find an existing account. However, using the e-mail address alone means that if the authentication provider allows changing the e-mail address of an account, the Mastodon account can immediately be hijacked. All users logging in through external authentication providers are affected. The severity is medium, as it also requires the external authentication provider to misbehave. However, some well-known OIDC providers (like Microsoft Azure) make it very easy to accidentally allow unverified e-mail changes. Moreover, OpenID Connect also allows dynamic client registration. This issue has been addressed in versions 4.2.6, 4.1.14, 4.0.14, and 3.5.18. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Mastodon 4.1.x before 4.1.17 and 4.2.x before 4.2.9 allows a bypass of rate limiting via a crafted HTTP request header.

In Mastodon 4.1.6, API endpoint rate limiting can be bypassed by setting a crafted HTTP request header.

Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts in mastodon/mastodon

Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts in GitHub repository mastodon/mastodon prior to 4.0.0.

Mastodon through 4.0.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (large Sidekiq pull queue) by creating bot accounts that follow attacker-controlled accounts on certain other servers associated with a wildcard DNS A record, such that there is uncontrolled recursion of attacker-generated messages.

The undo_mark_statuses_as_sensitive method in app/services/approve_appeal_service.rb in Mastodon 3.5.x before 3.5.3 does not use the server's representative account, resulting in moderator identity disclosure when a moderator approves the appeal of a user whose status update was marked as sensitive.

Mastodon Remote user impersonation and takeover

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub Mastodon allows configuration of LDAP for authentication. Due to insufficient origin validation in all Mastodon, attackers can impersonate and take over any remote account. Every Mastodon version prior to 3.5.17 is vulnerable, as well as 4.0.x versions prior to 4.0.13, 4.1.x version prior to 4.1.13, and 4.2.x versions prior to 4.2.5.