CVE Tools

CVE-2026-25540

Mastodon's signature-dependent ActivityPub collection responses cached under signature-independent keys (Web Cache Poisoning via `Rails.cache`)

Published: Feb 4, 2026Updated: Feb 20, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-524
6.5CVSSMEDIUM

Description

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Prior to versions 4.3.19, 4.4.13, 4.5.6, Mastodon is vulnerable to web cache poisoning via `Rails.cache. When AUTHORIZED_FETCH is enabled, the ActivityPub endpoints for pinned posts and featured hashtags have contents that depend on the account that signed the HTTP request. However, these contents are stored in an internal cache and reused with no regards to the signing actor. As a result, an empty response generated for a blocked user account may be served to requests from legitimate non-blocked actors, or conversely, content intended for non-blocked actors may be returned to blocked actors. This issue has been patched in versions 4.3.19, 4.4.13, 4.5.6.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:NS:UC:LI:NA:L
Exploitability
AV:NAttack Vector
Network
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:NPrivileges Required
None
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:UScope
Unchanged
Impact
C:LConfidentiality
Low
I:NIntegrity
None
A:LAvailability
Low

Weaknesses

Affected Products

joinmastodonoss-projectCommunicationsaka mastodon
mastodonoss-projectCommunicationsaka mastodon/mastodon

Exploitability

Official Patch Available

References

Timeline

Published
Feb 4, 2026
Last Updated
Feb 20, 2026

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