Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server based on ActivityPub. Prior to versions 4.5.8, 4.4.15, and 4.3.21, an unauthenticated Open Redirect vulnerability (CWE-601) exists in the `/web/*` route due to improper handling of URL-encoded path segments. An attacker can craft a specially encoded URL that causes the application to redirect users to an arbitrary external domain, enabling phishing attacks and potential OAuth credential theft. The issue occurs because URL-encoded slashes (`%2F`) bypass Rails path normalization and are interpreted as host-relative redirects. Versions 4.5.8, 4.4.15, and 4.3.21 patch the issue.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-33868 is rated Moderate Risk (45.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.40%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-03 | 1.21% | 1.40% | +0.18% |
| 2 | 2026-05-22 | 1.41% | 1.21% | -0.20% |
| 3 | 2026-05-21 | — | 1.41% | — |
Full EPSS history (10 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.3 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.8 | 1.4 | [email protected] |
| 6.1 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.8 | 2.7 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| joinmastodon | mastodon | < 4.3.21 | cpe:2.3:a:joinmastodon:mastodon:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| joinmastodon | mastodon | >= 4.4.0, < 4.4.15 | cpe:2.3:a:joinmastodon:mastodon:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| joinmastodon | mastodon | >= 4.5.0, < 4.5.8 | cpe:2.3:a:joinmastodon:mastodon:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/security/advisories/GHSA-xqw8-4j56-5hj6 | Vendor Advisory |