Description
Synapse is an open-source Matrix homeserver. Synapse versions before 1.106 are vulnerable to a disk fill attack, where an unauthenticated adversary can induce Synapse to download and cache large amounts of remote media. The default rate limit strategy is insufficient to mitigate this. This can lead to a denial of service, ranging from further media uploads/downloads failing to completely unavailability of the Synapse process, depending on how Synapse was deployed. Synapse 1.106 introduces a new "leaky bucket" rate limit on remote media downloads to reduce the amount of data a user can request at a time. This does not fully address the issue, but does limit an unauthenticated user's ability to request large amounts of data to be cached.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| element-hq | synapse | < 1.106 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | matrix-synapse | No fix yet | — |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS | matrix-synapse | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | matrix-synapse | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | matrix-synapse | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | matrix-synapse | 1.120.2-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:14541-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.24 | synapse | 1.110.0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.23 | synapse | 1.110.0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.22 | synapse | 1.110.0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.21 | synapse | 1.110.0-r0 | — |
| Alpine v3.20 | synapse | 1.110.0-r0 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | matrix-synapse | < 1.106 | 1.106 | GHSA-4mhg-xv73-xq2x |
| PyPI | matrix-synapse | < 1.106.0 | 1.106.0 | PYSEC-2024-286 |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2024:14541-1 matrix-synapse-1.120.2-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026