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Fencer Vulns
critical 10.0

CVE-2023-36460 in the critical feed json

Mastodon vulnerable to arbitrary file creation through media attachments

published 2023-07-06 3 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-mastodon-2023-36460 , EUVD-2023-40422 , GHSA-9928-3cp5-93fm

cvss
10.0
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
40.1%
EPSS 40.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 98%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Starting in version 3.5.0 and prior to versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3, attackers using carefully crafted media files can cause Mastodon's media processing code to create arbitrary files at any location. This allows attackers to create and overwrite any file Mastodon has access to, allowing Denial of Service and arbitrary Remote Code Execution. Versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3 contain a patch for this issue.

Patch / fix

  • bitnami mastodon 3.5.9, 4.0.5, 4.1.3
  • joinmastodon mastodon 3.5.9, 4.0.5, 4.1.3

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
23 mo ago

Exploit prediction

40.11% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 10.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 9.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
OSV 3.1 9.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
bitnami mastodon
>=3.5.0, <3.5.9
>=4.0.0, <4.0.5
>=4.1.0, <4.1.3
3.5.9
4.0.5
4.1.3

Affected products

  • mastodon mastodon

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.