CVE-2021-29430
CVE-2021-29430 is a high-severity vulnerability in Matrix Sydent with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-770.
Key facts
- Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.5)
- CVSS v2: 5.0
- EPSS exploit prediction: 2% (76th percentile)
- Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
- Weakness: CWE-770
- Affected product: Matrix Sydent
- Published:
- Last modified:
Description
Sydent is a reference Matrix identity server. Sydent does not limit the size of requests it receives from HTTP clients. A malicious user could send an HTTP request with a very large body, leading to memory exhaustion and denial of service. Sydent also does not limit response size for requests it makes to remote Matrix homeservers. A malicious homeserver could return a very large response, again leading to memory exhaustion and denial of service. This affects any server which accepts registration requests from untrusted clients. This issue has been patched by releases 89071a1, 0523511, f56eee3. As a workaround request sizes can be limited in an HTTP reverse-proxy. There are no known workarounds for the problem with overlarge responses.
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2021-29430?
- Sydent is a reference Matrix identity server. Sydent does not limit the size of requests it receives from HTTP clients. A malicious user could send an HTTP request with a very large body, leading to memory exhaustion and denial of service. Sydent also does not limit response size for requests it makes to remote Matrix homeservers. A malicious homeserver could return a very large response, again leading to memory exhaustion and denial of service. This affects any server which accepts registration requests from untrusted clients. This issue has been patched by releases 89071a1, 0523511, f56eee3. As a workaround request sizes can be limited in an HTTP reverse-proxy. There are no known workarounds for the problem with overlarge responses.
- How severe is CVE-2021-29430?
- CVE-2021-29430 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
- Is CVE-2021-29430 being actively exploited?
- It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (76th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
- What products are affected by CVE-2021-29430?
- CVE-2021-29430 affects Matrix Sydent. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
- How do I fix CVE-2021-29430?
- Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
- When was CVE-2021-29430 published?
- CVE-2021-29430 was published on 2021-04-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.
References
- https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/commit/0523511d2fb40f2738f8a8549868f44b96e5dab7
- https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/commit/89071a1a754c69a50deac89e6bb74002d4cda19d
- https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/commit/f56eee315b6c44fdd9f6aa785cc2ec744a594428
- https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/releases/tag/v2.3.0
- https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/security/advisories/GHSA-wmg4-8cp2-hpg9
- https://pypi.org/project/matrix-sydent/
Affected products (1)
- cpe:2.3:a:matrix:sydent:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
More vulnerabilities in Matrix Sydent
- CVE-2023-38686 — Critical (CVSS 9.3): Sydent is an identity server for the Matrix communications protocol. Prior to version 2.5.6, if configured to send…
- CVE-2021-29431 — High (CVSS 7.7): Sydent is a reference Matrix identity server. Sydent can be induced to send HTTP GET requests to internal systems, due…
- CVE-2019-11842 — High (CVSS 7.5): An issue was discovered in Matrix Sydent before 1.0.3 and Synapse before 0.99.3.1. Random number generation is…
- CVE-2019-11340 — Medium (CVSS 5.9): util/emailutils.py in Matrix Sydent before 1.0.2 mishandles registration restrictions that are based on e-mail domain,…
- CVE-2021-29432 — Medium (CVSS 5.3): Sydent is a reference matrix identity server. A malicious user could abuse Sydent to send out arbitrary emails from the…
- CVE-2021-29433 — Medium (CVSS 4.3): Sydent is a reference Matrix identity server. In Sydent versions 2.2.0 and prior, sissing input validation of some…
All CVEs affecting Matrix Sydent →
Other CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) vulnerabilities
- CVE-2026-31283 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In Totara LMS v19.1.5 and before, the forgot password API does not implement rate limiting for the target email…
- CVE-2020-37067 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Filetto 1.0 FTP server contains a denial of service vulnerability in the FEAT command processing that allows attackers…
- CVE-2021-47875 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): GeoGebra CAS Calculator 6.0.631.0 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows attackers to crash the…
- CVE-2025-11832 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Azure Access Technology BLU-IC2, Azure Access…
- CVE-2024-44241 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia…
- CVE-2022-3439 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitHub repository ikus060/rdiffweb prior to 2.5.0.
Browse all CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) vulnerabilities →