CVE-2022-39257
Matrix iOS SDK vulnerable to impersonation via forwarded Megolm sessions
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.5 High
- Published
- Sep 28, 2022
- Updated
- Apr 23, 2025
- Reserved
- Sep 2, 2022
Description
Matrix iOS SDK allows developers to build iOS apps compatible with Matrix. Prior to version 0.23.19, an attacker cooperating with a malicious homeserver can construct messages appearing to have come from another person. Such messages will be marked with a grey shield on some platforms, but this may be missing in others. This attack is possible due to the matrix-ios-sdk implementing a too permissive key forwarding strategy. The default policy for accepting key forwards has been made more strict in the matrix-ios-sdk version 0.23.19. matrix-ios-sdk will now only accept forwarded keys in response to previously issued requests and only from own, verified devices. The SDK now sets a `trusted` flag on the decrypted message upon decryption, based on whether the key used to decrypt the message was received from a trusted source. Clients need to ensure that messages decrypted with a key with `trusted = false` are decorated appropriately (for example, by showing a warning for such messages). 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
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.5 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N | GitHub_M |
Weaknesses
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
matrix-ios-sdkmatrix-org |
|
References
- https://matrix.org/blog/2022/09/28/upgrade-now-to-address-encryption-vulns-in-matrix-sdks-and-clients
- https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-ios-sdk/commit/5ca86c328a5faaab429c240551cb9ca8f0f6262c
- https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-ios-sdk/releases/tag/v0.23.19
- https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-ios-sdk/security/advisories/GHSA-qxr3-5jmq-xcf4
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