CVE-2023-36461 HIGH

CVE-2023-36461: Mastodon vulnerable to Denial of Service through slow HTTP responses

Vendor Mastodon
Product mastodon
Weakness CWE-770 · Uncontrolled resource consumption
Published July 6, 2023
Last update February 13, 2025
View on NVD All CVEs

CVSS base score

7.5/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality None
Integrity None

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. When performing outgoing HTTP queries, Mastodon sets a timeout on individual read operations. Prior to versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3, a malicious server can indefinitely extend the duration of the response through slowloris-type attacks. This vulnerability can be used to keep all Mastodon workers busy for an extended duration of time, leading to the server becoming unresponsive. Versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3 contain a patch for this issue.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

July 6, 2023 CVE published
February 13, 2025 Record updated