GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc is a low-severity (CVSS 3.5) CWE-863 vulnerability in matrix-synapse. A fix is available for matrix-synapse — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Synapse has URL deny list bypass via oEmbed and image URLs when generating previews
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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 GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc.
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
GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc 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 377,333 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
A discovered oEmbed or image URL can bypass the url_preview_url_blacklist setting potentially allowing server side request forgery or bypassing network policies. Impact is limited to IP addresses allowed by the url_preview_ip_range_blacklist setting (by default this only allows public IPs) and by the limited information returned to the client:
- For discovered oEmbed URLs, any non-JSON response or a JSON response which includes non-oEmbed information is discarded.
- For discovered image URLs, any non-image response is discarded.
Systems which have URL preview disabled (via the url_preview_enabled setting) or have not configured a url_preview_url_blacklist are not affected.
Because of the uncommon configuration required, the limited information a malicious user, and the amount of guesses/time the attack would need; the severity is rated as low.
Patches
The issue is fixed by #15601.
Workarounds
The default configuration of the url_preview_ip_range_blacklist should protect against requests being made to internal infrastructure, URL previews of public URLs is expected.
Alternately URL previews could be disabled using the url_preview_enabled setting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | matrix-synapse | all versions | 1.85.0pip install --upgrade 'matrix-synapse==1.85.0' |
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 1.85.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc 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 GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-98px-6486-j7qc across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.