Synapse 1.47.1 released

Today we are releasing Synapse 1.47.1, a security update based on last week's release of Synapse 1.47.0. This release patches one high severity issue affecting Synapse installations 1.47.0 and earlier using the media repository. An attacker could cause these Synapses to download a remote file and store it in a directory outside the media repository.

Note that:

• This only affects homeservers using Synapse's built-in media repository, as opposed to synapse-s3-storage-provider or matrix-media-repo.
• Attackers cannot control the exact name or destination of the stored file.

To quote from the advisory:

GHSA-3hfw-x7gx-437c / CVE-2021-41281: Path traversal when downloading remote media.

Impact

Synapse instances with the media repository enabled can be tricked into downloading a file from a remote server into an arbitrary directory, potentially outside the media store directory.

The last two directories and file name of the path are chosen randomly by Synapse and cannot be controlled by an attacker, which limits the impact.

Homeservers with the media repository disabled are unaffected. Homeservers configured with a federation whitelist are also unaffected.

The advisory has full details, including workarounds.

This issue was discovered and fixed by our internal security team.

Please update at your earliest convenience.