CVE-2022-39248

matrix-android-sdk2 vulnerable to Olm/Megolm protocol confusion

State
Published
Severity
8.6 High
Published
Sep 28, 2022
Updated
Apr 23, 2025
Reserved
Sep 2, 2022

Read the record on cve.org

Description

matrix-android-sdk2 is the Matrix SDK for Android. Prior to version 1.5.1, an attacker cooperating with a malicious homeserver can construct messages that legitimately appear to have come from another person, without any indication such as a grey shield. Additionally, a sophisticated attacker cooperating with a malicious homeserver could employ this vulnerability to perform a targeted attack in order to send fake to-device messages appearing to originate from another user. This can allow, for example, to inject the key backup secret during a self-verification, to make a targeted device start using a malicious key backup spoofed by the homeserver. matrix-android-sdk2 would then additionally sign such a key backup with its device key, spilling trust over to other devices trusting the matrix-android-sdk2 device. These attacks are possible due to a protocol confusion vulnerability that accepts to-device messages encrypted with Megolm instead of Olm. matrix-android-sdk2 version 1.5.1 has been modified to only accept Olm-encrypted to-device messages and to stop signing backups on a successful decryption. Out of caution, several other checks have been audited or added. This attack requires coordination between a malicious home server and an attacker, so those who trust their home servers do not need a workaround.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.18.6 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:NGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-322 Key Exchange without Entity Authentication
  • CWE-287 Improper Authentication

Affected Products

ProductVersions
matrix-android-sdk2matrix-org
  • < 1.5.1Affected

References

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