Synapse is a Matrix reference homeserver written in python (pypi package matrix-synapse). Matrix is an ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. In Synapse before version 1.25.0, requests to user provided domains were not restricted to external IP addresses when calculating the key validity for third-party invite events and sending push notifications.

This could cause Synapse to make requests to internal infrastructure. The type of request was not controlled by the user, although limited modification of request bodies was possible. For the most thorough protection server administrators should remove the deprecated federation_ip_range_blacklist from their settings after upgrading to Synapse v1.25.0 which will result in Synapse using the improved default IP address restrictions.

See the new ip_range_blacklist and ip_range_whitelist settings if more specific control is necessary.