CVE-2023-36462

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    CVE-2023-36462

    Published: 6 Jul 2023Last Modified: 12 Aug 2026

    Summary: Mastodon's verified profile links can be formatted in a misleading way

    Details: Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Starting in version 2.6.0 and prior to versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3, an attacker can craft a verified profile link using specific formatting to conceal arbitrary parts of the link, enabling it to appear to link to a different URL altogether. The link is visually misleading, but clicking on it will reveal the actual link. This can still be used for phishing, though, similar to IDN homograph attacks. Versions 3.5.9, 4.0.5, and 4.1.3 contain a patch for this issue.

    References: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v3.5.9, https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.0.5, https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.1.3, https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/36xxx/CVE-2023-36462.json, https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/security/advisories/GHSA-55j9-c3mp-6fcq, https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36462, https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/commit/610731b03dfcadd887078cb0399f4e514aa1931c

    Affected packages

    Package

    Name:

    Purl:

    Affected ranges

    Type: GIT

    Events:

    Introduced- 50ce347ef96690767b21ee01d6a785166c583b6b
    Fixed -b10c974ba1952c545acff505bfd36feb0c60b000

    Affected versions

    v3.5.8
    v3.5.7
    v3.5.6
    v3.5.5
    v3.5.4
    v3.5.3
    v3.5.2
    v3.5.1
    v3.5.0
    v3.5.0rc3
    v3.5.0rc2
    v3.5.0rc1

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High
    CVE-2023-36462 | CVE-DB