CVE-2026-23964

Mastodon has insufficient access control to push notification settings

MEDIUM
5.4
CVSS Score
Published: January 22, 2026 at 01:55 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 10:22 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsMastodonMastodon

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Severity
MEDIUM5.4
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Prior to versions 4.5.5, 4.4.12, and 4.3.18, an insecure direct object reference in the web push subscription update endpoint lets any authenticated user update another user's push subscription by guessing or obtaining the numeric subscription id. This can be used to disrupt push notifications for other users and also leaks the web push subscription endpoint. Any user with a web push subscription is impacted, because another authenticated user can tamper with their push subscription settings if they can guess or obtain the subscription id. This allows an attacker to disrupt push notifications by changing the policy (whether to filter notifications from non-followers or non-followed users) and subscribed notification types of their victims. Additionally, the endpoint returns the subscription object, which includes the push notification endpoint for this subscription, but not its keypair. Mastodon versions v4.5.5, v4.4.12, v4.3.18 are patched.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 4.3.184.4.0 ≤ v < 4.4.124.5.0 ≤ v < 4.5.5
v < 4.3.18v < 4.4.12v < 4.5.5
Affected range stops below 4.3.18, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.4.12, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.5.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (4)

x_refsource_CONFIRMVendor Advisory
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/security/advisories/GHSA-f3q8-7vw3-69v4
x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.3.18
x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.12
x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.5.5

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-863CWE-639

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