dbcve.org
CWE-336Weakness · CWE-336

CVE-2026-24044

CRITICAL · 9.2 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-02-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Element Server Suite Community Edition (ESS Community) deploys a Matrix stack using the provided Helm charts and Kubernetes distribution. The ESS Community Helm Chart secrets initialization hook (using matrix-tools container before 0.5.7) is using an insecure Matrix server key generation method, allowing network attackers to potentially recreate the same key pair, allowing them to impersonate the victim server. The secret is generated by the secrets initialization hook, in the ESS Community Helm Chart values, if both initSecrets.enabled is not set to false and synapse.signingKey is not defined. Given a server key in Matrix authenticates both requests originating from and events constructed on a given server, this potentially impacts confidentiality, integrity and availability of rooms which have a vulnerable server present as a member. The confidentiality of past conversations in end-to-end encrypted rooms is not impacted. The key generation issue was fixed in matrix-tools 0.5.7, released as part of ESS Community Helm Chart 25.12.1.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The ESS Community Helm Chart's secrets initialization hook (matrix-tools container prior to 0.5.7) uses an insecure Matrix server signing key generation method. When initSecrets.enabled is not explicitly set to false and synapse.signingKey is not predefined in values, the hook generates predictable keys that network attackers can recreate, enabling server impersonation and compromising room integrity and availability.

MitigationUpgrade to matrix-tools 0.5.7+ (ESS Community Helm Chart 25.12.1+) or explicitly set initSecrets.enabled to false and provide a custom synapse.signingKey in the Helm chart values.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the deployed ESS Community Helm Chart version
    Run `helm list -n <namespace>` and check the CHART column, or inspect the deployed Helm release metadata with `helm get manifest <release> -n <namespace> | grep -i 'chart version'`. Compare the version to the affected range (prior to 25.12.1).
    Affected if Chart version is prior to 25.12.1
  2. Identify the matrix-tools container version
    Run `kubectl get pods -n <namespace> -o jsonpath='{.items[*].spec.containers[?(@.name=="matrix-tools")].image}'` to find the matrix-tools image, then inspect the tag. Alternatively, check the Helm values for the matrix-tools version setting.
    Affected if matrix-tools version is prior to 0.5.7
  3. Check if initSecrets.enabled is explicitly set to false in Helm values
    Run `helm get values <release> -n <namespace> -o json | jq '.initSecrets.enabled'` or inspect your Helm values YAML file for the `initSecrets.enabled` setting.
    Affected if The value is undefined, null, or not explicitly set to false (the hook runs by default)
  4. Check if synapse.signingKey is predefined in Helm values
    Run `helm get values <release> -n <namespace> -o json | jq '.synapse.signingKey'` or inspect your Helm values YAML file for the `synapse.signingKey` key.
    Affected if synapse.signingKey is undefined, null, or not provided in the values

You are affected if the chart version is prior to 25.12.1 (or matrix-tools prior to 0.5.7) AND initSecrets.enabled is not explicitly set to false AND no custom synapse.signingKey is defined in your Helm values.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to matrix-tools 0.5.7+ (ESS Community Helm Chart 25.12.1+) or explicitly set initSecrets.enabled to false and provide a custom synapse.signingKey in the Helm chart values.

Recommended fix High confidence

matrix-tools 0.5.7 (or ESS Community Helm Chart 25.12.1)

  1. Identify all ESS Community Helm Chart deployments using matrix-tools container before version 0.5.7
  2. Upgrade the ESS Community Helm Chart to version 25.12.1 or later, which includes matrix-tools 0.5.7
  3. After upgrading, regenerate the Matrix signing keys by ensuring the secrets initialization hook runs again (this happens automatically on upgrade if using the same values)
  4. Verify the matrix-tools container is now running version 0.5.7 or later
  5. If synapse.signingKey was previously defined, consider regenerating those keys as a precautionary measure

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-24044 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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