CVE-2024-37303 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Missing Authentication vulnerability in matrix-synapse. A fix is available for matrix-synapse — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Synapse unauthenticated writes to the media repository allow planting of problematic content
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-37303.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-37303 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
matrix-synapseReal-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
Synapse before version 1.106 allows, by design, unauthenticated remote participants to trigger a download and caching of remote media from a remote homeserver to the local media repository. Such content then also becomes available for download from the local homeserver in an unauthenticated way. The implication is that unauthenticated remote adversaries can use this functionality to plant problematic content into the media repository.
Patches
Synapse 1.106 introduces a partial mitigation in the form of new endpoints which require authentication for media downloads. The unauthenticated endpoints will be frozen in a future release, closing the attack vector.
Workarounds
Though extremely limited, server operators can use more strict rate limits based on IP address.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at security at element.io.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | matrix-synapse | all versions | 1.106pip install --upgrade 'matrix-synapse==1.106' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 1.106 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-37303 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-37303 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-37303. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-37303 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-37303 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.