How severe is CVE-2021-39163?

CVE-2021-39163 has a CVSS score of 3.1/10, rated LOW. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-39163?

CVE-2021-39163 affects the following packages: matrix-synapse (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2021-39163?

Update matrix-synapse to 1.41.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-39163 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-39163 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for matrix-synapse, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-39163 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.

Is CVE-2021-39163 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-39163 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-39163?

CVE-2021-39163 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.9%, placing it in the 58th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-39163?

CVE-2021-39163 is classified as Information Exposure (CWE-200), CWE-863 (CWE-863). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2021-39163 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-39163 was published on August 31, 2021 and was last updated on July 8, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

LOW severity

CVE-2021-39163 — matrix-synapse

LOWFix: matrix-org/synapse@cb35df9

CVE-2021-39163 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.1) Information Exposure vulnerability in matrix-synapse. A fix is available for matrix-synapse — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Adding a private/unlisted room to a community exposes room metadata in an unauthorised manner.

Also known asGHSA-jj53-8fmw-f2w2PYSEC-2021-424

Published

Aug 31, 2021

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs58th percentile — riskier than 58% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-39163 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐍matrix-synapse

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

Unauthorised users can access the name, avatar, topic and number of members of a room if they know the ID of the room. This vulnerability is limited to homeservers where:

the vulnerable homeserver is in the room; and
untrusted users are permitted to create groups (communities).

By default, only homeserver administrators can create groups. However, homeserver administrators can already access this information in the database or using the admin API. As a result, only homeservers where the configuration setting enable_group_creation has been set to true are impacted.

Patches

Server administrators should upgrade to 1.41.1 or higher.

Workarounds

Server administrators can set enable_group_creation to false in their homeserver configuration (this is the default value) to prevent creation of groups by non-administrators.

Administrators that are using a reverse proxy could, with partial loss of group functionality, block the following endpoints:

/_matrix/client/r0/groups/{group_id}/rooms
/_matrix/client/unstable/groups/{group_id}/rooms

References

n/a

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, e-mail us at [email protected].

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`matrix-synapse`	all versions	1.41.1`pip install --upgrade 'matrix-synapse==1.41.1'`

Affected Products

2 products · 3 configurations

fedorafedoraproject

2 versions

3435

Application

synapsematrix

< 1.41.1

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for matrix-synapse, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update matrix-synapse to 1.41.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-39163 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact Unauthorised users can access the name, avatar, topic and number of members of a room if they know the ID of the room. This vulnerability is limited to homeservers where: - the vulnerable homeserver is in the room; and - untrusted users are permitted to create groups (communities). By default, only homeserver administrators can create groups. However, homeserver administrators can already access this information in the database or using the admin API. As a result, only homeservers where the configuration setting `enable_group_creation` has been set to `true` are impacted. ### Patc